Victor Davis Hanson scores again with good advice for President Obama. The Obama administration responds.
Hanson: Forget talk radio.
Obama Administration: We are. Rush won.
Hanson:Forget about George Bush.
Obama Administration: Rush won. Back to Bush.
Hanson: Drop the messianic style.
Obama Administration: The teleprompter made him do it.
Hanson: Enough of the evil “rich.”
Obama Administration: It distracts the people from the likes of William (“Cold Cash”) Jefferson, Charley Rangel, and John Murtha.
Hanson: Stop the dissimulation.
Obama Administration: What’s dissimulation?
Read VDH's post; it's worth the time.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
RICH DEMOCRATS
Gary Andres asks why the “rich” support Democrats.
My guess is that they simply consider high taxes a cost of doing business; an investment in future earnings from access.
Those without access, the “almost rich” – those with incomes in the $200-$500 thousand range - are "going John Galt” because the marginal tax burden is so high that it’s hardly worth working to earn that next dollar.
My guess is that they simply consider high taxes a cost of doing business; an investment in future earnings from access.
Those without access, the “almost rich” – those with incomes in the $200-$500 thousand range - are "going John Galt” because the marginal tax burden is so high that it’s hardly worth working to earn that next dollar.
OH, THE DEBTS WE WILL SEE!
More from Victor Davis Hanson.
A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there ... pretty soon you're talking real money.
Read it all.
These numbers are so fantastic, so absolutely crazed, that the thought of ever paying them off boggles the mathematical senses.
A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there ... pretty soon you're talking real money.
Read it all.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
REASON TV AT THE DC "TEA PARTY"
Reason TV was at the Washington DC "tea party" I posted on earlier.
Here's their take on the protest.
Here's their take on the protest.
RUSH TO FAILURE
Barack Obama was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009. Twenty-four days later, on February 13, the Economic Stimulus Act was passed. It was signed into law on February 17. It seems to me that the Democrats were in somewhat of a rush to spend roughly $1 trillion (Ed: that’s 12 zeros following the number 1).
After Rush Limbaugh declared that he wanted "the President to fail” – meaning, of course that he wanted the President’s programs to fail, the Democrats attacked with this billboard.
Ouestion: Are the Democrats so stupid as to not realize that that very slogan applies as much -- if not more -- to them as it does to Rush Limbaugh’s comment?
Answer: Why, yes. Yes they are.
[Update] From Hot Air, a very perceptive commenter:
[Update 2] Yosimite Sam and Porky Pig keep coming to mind ....
After Rush Limbaugh declared that he wanted "the President to fail” – meaning, of course that he wanted the President’s programs to fail, the Democrats attacked with this billboard.
Ouestion: Are the Democrats so stupid as to not realize that that very slogan applies as much -- if not more -- to them as it does to Rush Limbaugh’s comment?
Answer: Why, yes. Yes they are.
[Update] From Hot Air, a very perceptive commenter:
Hmmm….guess they pulled the pin and forgot to throw.
ElectricPhase on March 14, 2009 at 8:04 PM
[Update 2] Yosimite Sam and Porky Pig keep coming to mind ....
Friday, March 13, 2009
JUST FOR FUN
Spotted a bright apple green Honda Element on the road to work today.
License plate - GRNPEA
License plate - GRNPEA
DEBT STAR? OR DEATH STAR?
Shamelessly stolen from Glenn Reynolds.
Frankly, I’m not sure that “Death Star” isn’t a better descriptor. It does seem that the Obama administration is calling for the death of that shining city on a hill, death of capitalism, death of American exceptionalism – simply put, the death of the American dream.
Frankly, I’m not sure that “Death Star” isn’t a better descriptor. It does seem that the Obama administration is calling for the death of that shining city on a hill, death of capitalism, death of American exceptionalism – simply put, the death of the American dream.
AWED BY HIS BRILLIANCE
Could Obama Be Just Too Awesome?
Read the whole post.
“[We] need to know that if Obama’s actions seem stupid or insulting, it’s only because [we] are not yet able to understand his splendor. We must remember that while Obama’s brilliant radiance may fill us with awe, it could actually hurt the eyes of those unused to such light.”
Read the whole post.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SAVE $9,530 A YEAR TAKING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON - People who opt for public transportation over driving in the D.C. metro area can save $9,530 a year or $794 a month, a new report finds.
The report linked to an American Public Transportation Association public transit calculator that allows you to enter your individual information (for a number of cities, including D.C.) to calculate your savings by taking public transportation instead of your car.
I tried it. My car is a small truck, about 20 mpg (can’t go fast enough during the commute for the truck to get beyond a fast idle). Commute distance is 58 miles round trip. Using fare information from the Virginia Railway Express, the Washington DC Metro, and estimating the cost of a parking space at $7.50/day based on a monthly rate, I had my annual savings estimated:
That’s right. Public transportation would cost me roughly $1,000 more per year than driving in to work. Not to mention that it would cost an extra hour of commute time each day.
What happened to that $9,530 savings?
The report linked to an American Public Transportation Association public transit calculator that allows you to enter your individual information (for a number of cities, including D.C.) to calculate your savings by taking public transportation instead of your car.
I tried it. My car is a small truck, about 20 mpg (can’t go fast enough during the commute for the truck to get beyond a fast idle). Commute distance is 58 miles round trip. Using fare information from the Virginia Railway Express, the Washington DC Metro, and estimating the cost of a parking space at $7.50/day based on a monthly rate, I had my annual savings estimated:
-$1002.82
That’s right. Public transportation would cost me roughly $1,000 more per year than driving in to work. Not to mention that it would cost an extra hour of commute time each day.
What happened to that $9,530 savings?
AUGUSTINE’S LAWS
Norman R. Augustine, former chairman of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, wrote a book which I have used as a systems engineering “bible” for nearly as many years as I have been a practicing systems engineer. In it, he has written fifty-two “laws” about life, engineering, and defense acquisition which are both humorous and prescient.
Here’s Augustine:
President Obama exceeded $1 trillion in only 30 days.
The significance of these observations is obvious.
Here’s Augustine:
It took the federal government seventy-seven years to build up to where it could dispose of $1 billion in a single year. It reached the $10 billion level in another fifty-three years, jumped to $100 billion in just forty-three more years, and required only twenty-five years to smash through the $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00 for those who like figures) barrier. “Blessed are the young,” said Herbert Hoover, “for they shall inherit the national debt.”
President Obama exceeded $1 trillion in only 30 days.
The significance of these observations is obvious.
Law Number LII “People working in the private sector should try to save money. There remains the possibility that it may someday be valuable again.”
HMM
The stock market has been up for two consecutive days.
Is it because Wall Street is beginning to have some confidence in the Obama administration? Or because Wall Street has no confidence in the Obama administration and has decided to go it alone?
I'd like to hope for the former, but I'm betting on the latter.
Is it because Wall Street is beginning to have some confidence in the Obama administration? Or because Wall Street has no confidence in the Obama administration and has decided to go it alone?
I'd like to hope for the former, but I'm betting on the latter.
Monday, March 09, 2009
WELL ...
At today’s rate of decline (1%) the Dow Jones Industrial Average should cross the 5,000 mark on Tax Day (April 15) and 3,000 by Independence Day (July 4).
Beyond that I’m afraid to go.
[Update} The comment: “Once the Titanic is under water, does it really matter how much farther it sinks?”
Thank you. That made my day!
Beyond that I’m afraid to go.
[Update} The comment: “Once the Titanic is under water, does it really matter how much farther it sinks?”
Thank you. That made my day!
Sunday, March 08, 2009
BRAIN DRAIN?
They're Taking Their Brains and Going Home.
Vivek Wadhwa is concerned about a “reverse brain-drain” – foreign nationals taking their degrees in the US and then going home. According to Wadhwa, that’s bad:
Why is that bad? In the past, the US has taken the best and brightest from third-world countries, educated them, and kept them in the US, depriving those countries of the very people most likely to move those countries to first-world status.
Why is it bad to deny the third world the opportunity to move up to first world status? According to Wadwha,
Well, for starters, perhaps it will spur the US to take a long, critical look at our incredibly lousy feelings-based elementary and secondary school systems and fix them. It wouldn’t hurt to do the same at the university level as well.
Vivek Wadhwa is concerned about a “reverse brain-drain” – foreign nationals taking their degrees in the US and then going home. According to Wadhwa, that’s bad:
When smart young foreigners leave these shores, they take with them the seeds of tomorrow's innovation. Almost 25 percent of all international patent applications filed from the United States in 2006 named foreign nationals as inventors. Immigrants founded a quarter of all U.S. engineering and technology companies started between 1995 and 2005, including half of those in Silicon Valley. In 2005 alone, immigrants' businesses generated $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers.
Why is that bad? In the past, the US has taken the best and brightest from third-world countries, educated them, and kept them in the US, depriving those countries of the very people most likely to move those countries to first-world status.
Why is it bad to deny the third world the opportunity to move up to first world status? According to Wadwha,
[A]lthough immigrants accounted for only 12 percent of the U.S. workforce, they made up 47 percent of all scientists and engineers with doctorates. What's more, 67 percent of all those who entered the fields of science and engineering between 1995 and 2006 were immigrants.
What will happen to America's competitive edge when these people go home?
Well, for starters, perhaps it will spur the US to take a long, critical look at our incredibly lousy feelings-based elementary and secondary school systems and fix them. It wouldn’t hurt to do the same at the university level as well.
ON THE MARK
Saturday, March 07, 2009
BREAKING NEWS ...
The headline in today's Washington Post: Job Losses Could Drown Stimulus
Gee, ya think?
Gee, ya think?
Friday, March 06, 2009
ANOTHER JOHN GALT
From the Letters to the Editor page of the Los Angeles Times, another taxpayer goes Galt:
Michelle Malkin reported on this letter on her website, eliciting the following comment:
Uh, sorry lgm, although I have no direct knowledge of its authenticity, the letter is quite likely real. My wife and I are “going Galt” on much less income. With a $300,000 pre-tax income and a marginal tax rate approaching 70%, I’m rather certain that Kay Santos, like myself, can find more rewarding things to do in the time it would take to earn the 30 cents that marginal dollar is worth.
You might want to consider re-taking Economics 101 at your local community college.
I have employed about 50 people during the last 20 years, and my family’s taxable income is about $300,000. In order to avoid paying a higher percentage of taxes on all of my income, I will decrease output, lay off some staff and still end up keeping the same amount.
I have no incentive to hire people or expand my business, because the more I make, the more President Obama will take to expand government. This discourages expansion of the private sector. It will backfire with disastrous consequences for all.
It is repulsive that Obama is being allowed to take this country backward by pickpocketing the very people who run the private sector through their energy, money and creativity.
Kay Santos
Diamond Bar
Michelle Malkin reported on this letter on her website, eliciting the following comment:
Comment #11 on March 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
lgm said: Both you and the LATimes have been punked. This letter is a hoax. As long as his marginal return is positive he has an incentive to make more money. If he really were in business he would know that.
Uh, sorry lgm, although I have no direct knowledge of its authenticity, the letter is quite likely real. My wife and I are “going Galt” on much less income. With a $300,000 pre-tax income and a marginal tax rate approaching 70%, I’m rather certain that Kay Santos, like myself, can find more rewarding things to do in the time it would take to earn the 30 cents that marginal dollar is worth.
You might want to consider re-taking Economics 101 at your local community college.
EMBRACE THE FAILURE
Following the attacks on Rush Limbaugh, David Harsanyi asks “Is it inherently unpatriotic or immoral to want to see a president fail?”
Embrace the failure. It's patriotic.
Nothing personal.
After eight years of seething hatred -- plenty of it deserved -- for George W. Bush, this brand of contrived indignation touches a new level of creative dishonesty.
[M]any of us are hoping that all those in power fail, because those in power have a grating habit of being annoyingly self-righteous, hopelessly corrupt, resolutely incompetent and completely apathetic about the freedoms that they have sworn to protect.
Embrace the failure. It's patriotic.
Nothing personal.
THE DOW WOKE UP
Unfortunately.
DJIA is down 75 points at 1 pm. I expect it to close down around 120 points.
I hope I'm wrong.
[Update @ 4:30 pm] Whew! that was close. The DJIA rose almost 150 points in the last half-hour of trading to close up 30 points for the day. Never have I been happier to have guessed wrong.
DJIA is down 75 points at 1 pm. I expect it to close down around 120 points.
I hope I'm wrong.
[Update @ 4:30 pm] Whew! that was close. The DJIA rose almost 150 points in the last half-hour of trading to close up 30 points for the day. Never have I been happier to have guessed wrong.
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