Eat The Rich

DealBook Column - Up Next for Big-Shot Bankers - A Public Flogging - NYTimes.com

Oft times we read about what horrid people are in banking, finance, big business, etc. They are rapacious, greedy, selfish disgusting folks, and someone needs to put them in their place.

“I want groveling,” wrote Patt Morrison, an op-ed writer at The Los Angeles Times, over the weekend, echoing a chorus of others. “I want show-trial sweating and stammering. I want their nine-figure bonus checks endorsed over to the rest of us. I want my 401(k) money back. I want blood; I’m a vegetarian, but I’d make an exception for a smoking plate of C.E.O. en brochette.”

The whole column is worth reading as a study in "liberal nature", but you get the main point. I'm so reminded of "The Unforgiven" when we introduced to "English Bob", and taught quickly to hate him. When the town sheriff, "Little Bill" beats him unmercifully, we are glad, but at least for some of us, we start to "wonder" --- if only because we know that in the end Clint Eastwood has to be some sort of "hero".

Clint does indeed "prevail", but at least I was struck in an almost spiritual way about how litte we know about how to "judge", and why the Sovereign Lord explicitly tells us that we are not able to judge. How easy it is for man to call for the darkness while thinking they are calling the light. There is no "calling" for the light -- salvation is always there, it isn't our "call" that brings it, it is our willingness to cease our "just refusal" of salvation, because to do so seems to be "unjust" to our human soul.

WE, must "work hard" to be "better than others", and thus "deserving". We strongly need to see "others as worse", and it is only "right" to see those that are worse be punished on this earth, and in the after life as well. Each of us though, unless living in Christ, is CERTAIN that we are "diserving", but others are not.

So, they "want to see them grovel"! They want what is THEIRS!!! Their "justly earned through a growing market 401K"!!! But wait, were they for the policies that let the economy, business and that 401K grow? Or were they for the policies that would "share the wealth", much of which was in that market and a lot of folks decided was better OUTSIDE it before the "sharing" (at gunpoint) began.

How do they think they will get their 401K back if they eat the rich?

Humans, Markets, Governments, Words

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Random Thoughts

Thomas Sowell on how bad things really are. The point of this to me is that we have a "race" -- can BO and company remove rights, control the media, shift the blame and take total control to the level that freedom is gone before the bulk of voters figure it out? The race is on!!

Human beings are going to make mistakes, whether in the market or in
the government. The difference is that survival in the market requires
recognizing mistakes and changing course before you go bankrupt. But
survival in politics requires denying mistakes and sticking with the
policies you advocated, while blaming others for the bad results.

More frightening to me than any policy or politician is the ease with
which the public is played for fools with words. The latest example is
the "Employee Freedom of Choice Act," a bill that will do away with
secret ballot elections among workers voting on whether to be
represented by a union. It is an open invitation to intimidation--
which is to say, loss of freedom of choice.

The Rich are Worried

Wealth Matters - It’s Not Just the Money, It’s the Mind-Set - NYTimes.com

We have had downturns before, but people feel this one is different. Are they right? I don't know, I have money in BOTH the market and the "mattress", and plenty of firearms and ammo as well.

“This feels absolutely different because it’s so widespread,” said Eric
Dammann, a Manhattan psychoanalyst, in comparing this crash to 2001 and
1987. “It feels like everything is imploding at the same time as well
as this sense that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Strange behavior is not limited to Wall Street. Brad Klontz, a
financial psychologist in Hawaii and partner in Klontz Kahler, a
financial therapy and planning firm, said someone he worked with had
liquidated his portfolio, put the money into gold and silver and bought
a safe to store the bullion. This person, he says, is considering
buying an assault rifle to protect his wealth. “If it really got down
to that point it would be total anarchy, and there would be nothing you
could do,” Mr. Klontz said. “And this is a really smart guy.”

Rapacity of Audacity

American Thinker: The Rapacity of Odacity

Looks like the BO blew out of Washington and went back on the campaign trail after less than a month in office. This time, he was selling pork by the Trillion, with just a hint of lipstick. I love the "trio" of the now "heroic" bipartisan Republican Senators -- Collins, Snowe, and Specter. RINOs all, but oh how much more lovely these 3 are to the MSM than poor old Joe Liberman!

Couple of great paragraphs from this article. "The Road to Serfdom" covered this prior to the rise of the National Socialists (Nazis) in Germany, so it is old news, but news that mankind needs to learn over and over. When you attack those that bake the pie, you end up with less pie for all.

Read it all, here is a teaser.

Socialism is rapaciously greedy -- that's what endless envy warfare comes down to. The Left likes to preen itself with the word ‘progressive,' when it is actually the most regressive political strategy in history. The key political move is to seek out the most rapacious people -- not hungry for food but power -- and use them to mobilize an attack on the productive sector, the milk cows of society. It is the most primitive political strategy ever. It goes back to the Romans and long before. Karl Marx merely reinvented a very old and decrepit wheel.

That is why today, in his first month in office, President Obama needs to go after executives who earn more than 500 thousand dollars per year. Marxism has become the politics of universal envy and rapacity, as long as there is a victim group hungry enough to be led into battle against the ever-shifting enemy. That is why racial politics has not been left behind by the Democrats; on the contrary. The United States is more racially sliced and diced than it has been since the Dixiecrats lost their power.

Audacity is voracious because there's never enough free pie. It's the pie supply that grinds to a halt if the bakery is coerced into working without compensation -- a condition that used to be called "slavery." Without suitable incentives, producers can only be forced to work by the threat of punishment. And with full media control, our socialists make sure the baker gets the blame for any sudden pie shortage. We've watched it happen with Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Coal, and on and on -- but never with Big Media or Big Government. It's easy to tell who the demagogues are -- their names are never on the hit list.

As the bitter old Soviet joke went, "Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Socialism is the opposite." Only the apparatchiks, the new ruling class, win.

Gun Rights Under Attack

American Thinker Blog: More Gun Control Introduced in Congress

Remember all the howling in the MSM about how your rights were being trampled by the evil Bush Administration? "Looking in bedroom windows", "listening to your phone calls", "People afraid to speak" -- although there seemed to be no shortage of lefties speaking all sorts of things that were negative and had no connection to any reality.

Well, Bush is gone. How worried is the MSM about "rights" now? Well, they are worried about the GOVERNMENT'S rights to take every last dollar from current and future Americans and to take the guns from the citizens to make sure that nobody responds!

Oh, didn't BO say he was "strongly in favor of the 2nd amendment"? Was that like "I don't hire lobbyists?" ... prior to bringing in Mr "I make 2.5 million a year lobbying, and I don't bother to pay my taxes" Daschle?

Get a LICENSE from the Attorney General of the US to have guns -- with him having a nice list of where to come to collect them anytime they want. They don't even have to let you know they are coming! Since you want to make use of your 2nd amendment right, you forfeit your right to privacy! Isn't THAT a nice way to go!

BO = Fascism!

So Much for Hope Over Fear

RealClearPolitics - Articles - So Much For Hope Over Fear

Charles just has it right. BO is into trying to scare the American people with rants of economic disaster if his porky package is not passed. He didn't get his $2.5 million dollar a year lobbyist friend Daschle through, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

So, we were supposed to BELIEVE in the guy that said he was going to take public financing, and spent the most ever spent on a presidential campaign by a wide margin? Pleeeze!

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved
more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the
real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes
is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly
legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not
a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of
money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for
picking up the phone and peddling influence.

Naked BO

Obama's 'Naked' Moment - Forbes.com

Worthy read. One might have thought that it would take a bit longer than a couple of weeks for BOs feet of clay to be exposed, but the facts are the facts. We have a President with no leadership experience and it shows.

Worst Since 1974

January job loss: Worst in 34 years - Feb. 6, 2009

For those that don't remember the 70's, it looks like we have gotten our time machine out and done the "way back" to beautiful '74, the wonderful year of my graduation from HS. What a wonderful time THAT was! To be young and living in a country in decline.

So will we be able to get back to the '30's? The middle ages? Caves? Who knows, we seem to have decided that the economics that have been proven to work, don't, and those that have been proven to fail are now going to work.

Heil BO comrade!

Missed The BO Love?

Clinton calls Kyrgyzstan base-closure decision 'regrettable' - CNN.com

I suppose that Kyrgyzstan missed the "everyone loves BO" news? Well that goodness we have BO now, and Hill-Billy too. No doubt she will have a short chat with them and soon they will be "feeling the love". I imagine that this whole misunderstanding is simply a carry over from the horrible incompetence of the evil Bush years, and this will be easily handled!

I await the good news.

Class War, All Can Play

Commentary: Congress clueless about retreats - CNN.com

Do I like Congress and the media sniping about how "lavish" the corporate or Wall Street lifestyle is? No, so why would like I like the media sniping about how lavish the Congressional lifestyle is? Well, I'd like it a little because I'm human -- we all have a nature that makes us have some enjoyment of "the other side getting theirs".

Bad problem is, I'm a Christian, and we USED to be "a Christian Nation". One of the big reasons that a lot of the world is a good simulation of hell is simply that: "Human Nature". Our natural instinct is that "we and ours" are "special" -- and "others" aren't. Therefore, it can often be easier just to tear down others than to build up ourselves, and in the absence of any higher values, that is what we do.

One can argue that nobody "needs" to be doing anything but sitting around a trash fire in some rags roasting a rat for dinner, and if you don't have a rat or a fire, you might figure that the "rich guy" that does needs to be whacked with a rock so that luxury can be yours -- which is better (to you) than it being his. Christianity tells you to NOT whack the guy with the rat, it tells the guy with the rat to share, and it tells you to sit down and see if you can work together to get a rabbit tomorrow. From there the world gets better. A "virtuous cycle".

Democrats have argued for at least the past 30 years that wealth doesn't "trickle down". I wonder about poverty? The only thing that redistribution of wealth can ever provide is poverty. It is CREATION of wealth by GROWTH that moves one from rats to rabbits to pheasant to steak.

When the valueless and the clueless take charge, the descent to dining on rats can be swift. Resources are always limited, envy has no limits at all. The magic of capitalism is that it harnessed part of mans nature (greed) to drive the creation of wealth. Not perfectly or equitably, because we live in a world that is not perfect or equitable. Socialism encourages envy for political power, but doesn't recognize a need to motive production, and worse, it doesn't actually channel the envy (nor the greed for that matter, unless it is greed for more handouts).

"The Change" is here, and a whole bunch of easily led are thinking "Yes We Can"!!! Yes we can, what? Well, we can complain! We can limit others! We can pass a lot of laws! We can spend a lot of money we don't have!

Then what? Remember to horde some good hot sauce for that rat!

Hooray For Class Warfare

Boo Hoo in the Boardroom - Timothy Egan Blog - NYTimes.com

"Main-street" is happy to see BO slam CEOs that take bailout money with a $500K compensation maxium. Class warfare is back in town and the drums of war are beating in a festive mood -- rubbing the hands together with glee, "and now those evil CEOs get the shaft like we have all been getting". Even inside the big corporation, there are plenty of folks ready to see anyone sufficiently wealthier than them "get it".

Ah, human nature. True enough that greed is ramptant, but clearly so is envy. One thing about humans, we will never ever have a vice shortage. Kindness, mercy, thrift, intelligence, foresight, money, food, love -- all things good are often very limited, but of vices? Our cup overfloweth.

Funny thing about war. Oft times it turns out a whole lot less fun than the beginning. The old Klingon proverb; "Revenge is a dish best served cold"?

So that joyus task of "going after the undeserving" has begun. Obamanation indeed.

First they came for the CEOs -- I was happy, because I was not a CEO. Then they came for the wealthy -- I stood by, because I felt that many of them had too much. Then they came for the business owners -- I was glad I didn't own my own business. Then they came for me, and I was surprised.

Don't be surprised.

Religion of Peace for Women

&squo;Mum&squo; had 80 women raped for suicide missions | Herald Sun

We all know that Islam is a wonderful religion, and Christianity is quite oppressive and nasty. Here we have an example of the high minded character of the Muslim mind. One would think that in a religion where guys that blow themselves up get 72 virgins, but women get nothing, it would be harder to recruit woman suicide bombers.

We just don't have the right kind of minds.

In the Muslim world, if a woman gets raped, it is her own fault. So, "easy solution", once they are raped, then they are bound for eternal damnation --- UNLESS ... yup, you guessed it, unless they martyr themselves in jihad! How convenient.

It has sort of a ready made setup -- males due to be suicide bombers can do some rapes first as sort of a "prelude to paradise", and then when they blow themselves up, they will be in "virgin clover".

We all need to be more respectful of other religions.

Can They Turn the Tide?

Power Line - Kill the Bill

I never expected  BO and the Democrats to give the Republicans an opportunity to hand them a major defeat this early, but certainly have. BO let Pelosi run wild in the House, and she served up the biggest glob of partisan pork fat in world history. The House Republicans wisely all voted against it.

Now, enough of the stench has leaked out of the bill to drop public opinion solidly against and BO is in a panic trying to get bipartisan cover for the stench. If this thing could be defeated, it would be the first actual ray of hope for a recovery in a very long time.

Can the weak kneed Republican party that couldn't keep a lid on spending on their own watch now FINALLY stand up to now gigantic threat of a level of big government that would have been unthinkable even 6 months ago? One can hope, even if the odds are against it.

A Leadership Mistake

White House Memo - The Pros and Cons of Admitting a Presidential Error - NYTimes.com

Since BO has never held a leadership position, he doesn't know much about being a leader and admitting mistakes. Some things that would be immediately asked of a leader in business, or in a country with an adversarial press for Democrats:

1. What was the mistake? He has appointed 4 people with problems, Richards also withdrew, Geithner made it but has tax problems. Why was Daschle worthy of being admitted as a personal presidential error, but the others were not? Why admit this "mistake" now?
   
2. How does he intend to FIX things so the "mistake" doesn't happen again? Is it a "process issue"? Did he just learn that most Americans actually pay their taxes? Has he just learned that he can't get by with a different standard for his people than for the common people? What?
3. Is it REALLY "his mistake", or is it a symptom of the selection pool? Is there a problem that MANY Democrats don't follow the rules, so it is really hard for a Democrat President to find qualified people that can both do the job and have a reasonable history relative to personal life, paying taxes, hiring illegal aliens, etc? It kind of seems that way, it seems very unlikely that BOTH the Clinton and BO administrations could have had and be having as many problems as they are when the supposedly completely incompetent Bush administration had no problems with appointees having to drop out due to legal / personal sorts of issues.
   
4. Why THIS mistake? Any leader of any reasonable sized task knows that "mistakes are made" every day by both the leader and the people they are leading. When a leader admits a mistake, they reflect on the people that hired them (or elected them), the people they lead, themselves, and the processes / procedures / organization that they lead. So, this is a well that BO can't go to very often, or there is going to be a lot of "buyers remorse" going around.
   

It seems that BO maybe ought to check out a book or two on leadership for the weekend. He has never held a leadership position, so some book learning might be able to shorten the on the job training by a bit.

Government Self Abuse

RealClearPolitics - Articles - What Is Congress Stimulating?

This is very well written, basically just read it. The "stimulus" is purely an attempt by the Democrats to increase the size of the Federal government by an instant 1/3 (about $3 Trillion now, just add a Trillion). The only jobs it stimulates are government jobs!

I especially liked this analysis -- there is no doubt that leadership is an "exposing activity". Even with all the attempted MSM cover, the Democrats can't help show their true stripes when they are in the leadership role.

Then after Tim Geithner scampered through the tax minefield and into
a Cabinet seat, the Daschle tax bomb went off, laying open for public
view the world of Washington's pay-for-favors that makes the average
Wall Street banker look like Little Bo-Peep. 

Conventional wisdom holds that the Republican refuseniks shot
themselves in the foot by staying off the House stimulus package. Real
wisdom holds that congressional Republicans should consider putting
distance between themselves and anything Democratic just now. The
party's crypts are opening.