Budget Suicide

RealClearPolitics - Big Government on the Brink

A little optimistic, but worth the read. The bottom line problem is that VERY few people realize that "The Pig(federal gov) is Dead". They keep talking about "this and that won't work, something HAS to be done". Have none of these people ever seen a loved one die?? It seems "unthinkable" -- we will just need to do this ... or that, or why can't they do THIS, or, or ... . And then it is over, they are gone. You are still here, the world goes on, but it isn't the same world -- what you thought could not possibly happen has happened, and you are sadder but maybe wiser.

We took a wrong turn in '06. The sign said "Dead End" very clearly, but we pushed the accelerator to the floor. We went by a sign in '08 that said "Danger, STOP !! High Cliff Ahead!!!" ... we took a strong swig of whiskey and pushed on the gas even harder. As the darkness falling away into the abyss started to enter our awareness in '10, we hired some folks willing to turn on the headlights. But most folks seem to have just decided to shut their eyes when it comes to painful realities.

We don't HAVE to have our loved ones alive. So surprise -- there is no "law of nature" that we HAVE to have Social Security, Medicare, Defense, a job, any assets, shelter, clothing, enough to eat, etc. **ALL** of those things have to be EARNED!!! If not by us now, then by SOMEONE -- either "wealthier", or from past generations wealth that was saved, or from future generations wealth being borrowed, or by conquest of other nations wealth ... it all comes from somewhere.

So when folks say things like "Paul Ryan's plan won't work because someone will HAVE to do xxx, to cover yyyy", or "Republicans thought that idea X was good in 1970, or 2003, or whenever, but now they seem to have changed their minds, there is a failure to understand the effects of time. Microsoft was a superb stock to buy in 1985 ... it may still be fine now, but it is very unlikely that it is as good now as then. Fixing FICA and helping the economy by doing some sorts of privatization or incentives in even '03 may well have been very helpful, but we missed that opportunity. We have a lot less flexibility now. Ditto with a lot of good ideas on healthcare, if some of the best advice had been followed EARLIER, when the problems were not so deep and the time frame longer. Sadly, the same is still the case -- we are like a drinker that has continued to drink and now the liver is dead. Quitting earlier would have been A LOT less painful -- in fact, maybe we are too late to avoid death.

In any case, the solutions to a system that anyone that wanted to look could see was unsustainable decades ago are FAR more painful now than they were even a few years ago. Why? Because when you are in the final stages of liver disease and you decide that the right answer is to go on a multi-month bender, the end can come very very quickly. That is the course we chose in '06, and accelerated in '08, and now we don't like the pain that is required to have even the very smallest of chances of even a very damaged recovery.

There is always an alternative, it is just that in the final analysis it is always death.

BO's Sorry Now

The Associated Press: WH: Obama regrets vote against raising debt limit

Being a Democrat means that "mistakes" are free. Oh yes, the MSM "reports it", but they don't make it an obsession --- "Dan Quayle ... misspelled potato". George Bush -- "Mission Accomplished, No WMD found, HUGE deficits". Has BO had any deficits yet?

Here is what the guy that was such a great perspecitve president that he made Chis Matthews leg shiver had to say on the subhject of raising the debt ceiling back in '06:

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. ... Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem."

So do we have ANY nice headlines like "Obama Said Raising Debt Ceiling Failure of Leadership" ??? Why not? Did Americans quit liking sensational "Gotcha journalism"? Did our media decide that the president needed to be supported when there was an "important military operation under way"?? (Libya).

Could it be that they are just biases and they really get no enjoyment whatsoever in making BO's job more difficult -- something that they enjoyed IMMENSELY when W was in office? Nah, just listen to NPR, they are completely unbiased!!! They say it themselves, so it must be true!

Is there just a SMIDGE of a chance that BO was completely clueless then and he is completely clueless now???

 

Caring Enough to Write a Bad Check

Paul Ryan Says Democrats Flee 'Adult Conversation' on Budget - HUMAN EVENTS

I'm really concerned about seniors and children, that is why I ought to care enough to write bad checks for both on the kids future checkbooks. One has to ether be a Democrat or an MSM reporter to see that as "caring". But wait, that is not enough -- I need to denigrate those who are trying to make reforms to allow the most vulnerable to actually have a safety net, and while they are doing it on the backs of those that HAVE saved and are able to shoulder more responsibility for their own future retirement by pushing for means testing! The left is denigrating Ryan for working to lead people that are largely in his own voting block -- those who HAVE saved, worked longer, selected a job with a pension, etc so they CAN survive without their whole FICA payment. That still isn't good enough for the left -- they would rather destroy the whole system than admit that what they created is unsustainable, even though it most clearly is.

Why can this country not make progress? I see it as pretty simple:

• Everyone has an ideology, it is just that one side doesn't realize it. How can a human with a brain stand up and say "Republicans are holding the budget hostage for ideological reasons by trying to cut abortion funding in the budget"! Huh? If you have no ideology, then simply allow the cuts!!!!! BOTH SIDES, and even those that claim to have "no sides" have an ideology. We all do, it is called being human. Our MSM and the Democrats REGULARLY stand up and make as much sense as Clevon Little does in "Blazing Saddles", when facing the lynch mob, pulls out is own gun, points at his head and says "Nobody move or the N**R gets it!!!". Only thing is that our current situation isn't funny.
  
• Our "sense of history" is now reduced to less than a year. Why are we facing a "budget crisis"? Because BO, Nancy and Harry with large majorities in both houses didn't pass a budget for Sept 10 - Sept 11!!! Our MSM is so bad that only the relatively few that REALLY keep up with a broad media spectrum are even aware of this. Democrats are so confident in general MSM support that they even complain about "Republicans being slow to pass a budget", or "having to provide adult supervision". Huh??? They completely abdicated a basic responsibility of government last year because they were worried about showing their cards on spending and taking responsibility in an election year, and NOW that there ARE some adults working to get the job done, they spend all their time in obstruction and name calling. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans are so duped that they believe this situation is "the Republicans fault". Heeellllooo?????? 

Our situation is desperate. It is way past time to roll up our sleeves and realize that we have to get past rhetoric, look closely at what it is that we truly value, and GET BUSY!!!! Get competitive, get frugal, get responsible, get educated, get down to business, and most of all GET REAL!!! Nobody is going to solve our problem for us. There is no big pot of "the wealthy" that can bail us out. Even our supposed bail outs are largely just printed cash that is nothing but inflation.

Ryan is the best mind to show up on this in a very long time. Is he perfect? -- hell no, but it is high time that we realized that there is no such thing as "savior leadership" in this mortal vale of tears, and learn to work hard with the best leaders we have available. BO and the Democrats have been the biggest failure in US history, take a nice cold look at it and get over it!! Ryan and others like him are the way forward and we had better start getting majorities at the 70-80% of Americans to understand that, support it even when the going is tough, and stand up to the kinds of overheated rhetoric with no solutions we are hearing from the left!!!

Why SOME Liberals Believe

Power Line - The Times Retracts

The ruse is simple, you make something up out of very close to whole cloth "The Koch Brothers Contributed $80K to a campaign". It gets "reported" then repeated. This DOES happen on both sides, but the difference is that the NYTs doesn't generally end up reporting the right wing versions as "facts of record" with retractions deeply buried in misleading ways some days later.

People that only follow NYT, NBC, CNN, CBS, NPR, etc believe, and they believe it when they hear that Fox, right wing bloggers are "just a bunch of liars". Their media sources support each other -- and a certain world view. Since they know no other view, they feel justified.

It is actually quite difficult to look at both sides, be able to argue both sides, and come to conclusions based on a broad view, but if we are a nation that wants to continue to have "democratic" in our Republic, then isn't it a responsibility ?? If enough people demand that BOTH SIDES of the media learn to operate in a fact based, non-partisan manner, then maybe the time could come again when we could LEGITIMATELY trust a one or two sources for all our news and know that we were getting information rather than propoganda!

Blame the Electorate?

American Thinker: Will Ignorance Lead to a Second Obama Term?

Blaming the electorate is generally a bad idea, but this analysis of BO voters seems pretty air-tight to me:

When Obama won in 2008, I wrote an article for AT in which I analyzed the various reasons that people had for voting for a person who was clearly incompetent, unprepared, unpatriotic, and basically void of any substance other than his own ego and disdain for American exceptionalism. The five categories of Obama voters included (i) individuals suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome, (ii) followers with a mob mentality of assuming that if everyone liked the guy, he must be wonderful, (iii) socialists, (iv) people with racial guilt looking for a post-racial America, and (v) those suffering from simple ignorance due to a lack of intellectual curiosity to understand the man who would be king.

Now, with over half of Obama's term complete, the only relevant categories of Obama supporters are those falling under items (iii) and (v)

He does leave out idiots and the insane, but I really think they are pretty close to even on both sides. Who is going to be left to vote for BO? 


I sincerely hope -- and very much want to believe that Americans will pass a basic test of rationality and resist the MSM and the elitist posturing in favor of reaity and common sense! If not however ... although I believe our survival of a single term is still highly problematic.

If Obama represents the level of intelligence of the American people, then I fear our Republic will not survive the "multitude of fools" who may very well hand the prince a second term.

Liberal Libyan Clairity

There’s A Clear Logic Behind Obama’s Libya Strategy—but That Doesn’t Mean It Will Succeed. | The New Republic

One of the great things that Democrat presidents have going for them is a lapdog media that will go to any length to create "strategy" out of randomness:

Put simply, Obama’s Libya strategy is designed to avoid the most undesirable outcomes rather than optimize the chances of a desired outcome, to do something without “owning” the conflict, to maintain maximum flexibility as the situation evolves, and to do all of this in the face of powerful constraints.

There you have it. I'd argue that "Have your cake and eat it too" is neither new, or  "strategy". It is identical to the Stimulus and "saved or created". For those that are terminally MSM addicted, or just gullible at heart, this is how it works ... BO Claims:

1. I took action
2. The situation would have been worse I hadn't taken action. Exactly like "saved or created" or the stimulus in general. BUT, while you can see that "I took action", there is no way to check my figures on "saved or created" or my "flexible outcomes" in Libya.
   
3. I'm brilliant because I did EXACTLY THE RIGHT THING given ALL THE FACTS (many of which I may not share with you) ... no matter what the outcome turns out to be!!
4. If it doesn't SEEM brilliant to you, see "I didn't OWN the conflict" and "powerful constraints".
   

One can easily apply this to anything if you have a supportive media and good set of pliant supporters -- but it you don't, it looks like what it is. Attempting to play both sides of the street only to your favor with no concern over what the actual outcome is, and no accountability for it. Great work if you can get it, but no CEO, sports team manager, or even husband working on a honey-do list can get that work. Imagine this response to a plugged toilet in the basement that remains plugged :

• I got the plunger and shut off the water ( action, could have been worse if not taken)
• I told the kid to plunge it (I'm no longer responsible)
• Plumbers are expensive (constraints) 
• Nuff said!!
  

So, here we see that BO isn't the kind of guy you would hire to unstop your toilet, why would anyone hire him as president, and then have a whole media try to claim this is a "strategy"???

The Two Coming Revolutions

The Two Coming American Revolutions

Essentially the Tea Party wants to have American Revolution redueux, and the left wants to guillotine "the rich". Good article. 

The Era of Literalism

Uncertain minds in an era of literalism | Madeleine Bunting | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

Another assumption that was briskly dismantled, was the idea that religion offers certainty. On the contrary, argued Gray: "In an age of secular dogmatism, churches have become sanctuaries of doubt." It's a statement that will horrify Dawkins's many fans, but given so few of them ever grace a church's doorstep, how would they know?

Armstrong was offering no certainty even on the existence of God. Existence is far too limited a human concept to apply to God – even the great 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides knew that. Yet modernity has lost this understanding of the limits to human reasoning and our incapacity to describe God, which was evident in all the monotheistic traditions in the past. Uncertainty has, traditionally, always been part of faith.

Mostly had to put this out here so I remember to get the book and read it. I'm convinced that we are beset by people that know "too much" and "too little" about everything from God to Government to Humanity.

Everyone has "their angle", "their group" and their "secret sauce" that THEY are certain is the smartest , best, most rational, fairest, most caring, correct and innovative -- along with a never ending host of other positive adjectives. The "other folks", the inverse -- stupid, worst, irrational, unfair, mean spirited .... etc.

"The truth" ... NOT "half way in between" and not "relative" either. More like the X-files "The Truth is Out There". Outside human reach and grasp, but close enough for our spirit to sense when we are very very quiet and very very humble.

The truth is out there, but it isn't human.

Middle Class Welfare

RealClearPolitics - Can We Avert a Social Security Disaster?

A good coverage of the facts of FICA --  there is no "Trust Fund", it DOES affect the budget TODAY, and increasingly going forward, and it IS a form of welfare for the middle class -- one that is very popular and totally unsustainable. MANY unsustainable things are popular -- the only problem with "free lunch" is that it doesn't exist, and any attempts to make it seem like it does are just some form of a Ponzi scheme.
FICA is the Ponzi scheme that may end the USA.

WI Protest Damage

Budget battle: Officials say it'll cost $7.5 million to clean up glue, tape, posters left from protesters - WITI:

Since this was done by liberals, it wasn't much of a story. Any gathering of more than 2 conservatives of any nature is trumpeted by the media as "chilling" -- but of course the left can bluster, threaten and deface with impunity. That is called "freedom of speech"!

Looking In The Lockbox

Charles Krauthammer: It’s still an empty lockbox - Orange County Register

Very sad that this sort of column is still neccesary, but it is. I just heard some "learned analyst" give solemn assurances that "Social Security Is Solvent through 2037", followed by denigration of those that think otherwise as being either "wrong or lying". The fact that this is even a discussion that can be had at all, let alone on something like NPR that keeps wanting to claim it is reality based, is as absurd as them giving a statement that the earth is flat as being obvious, while presenting the "other side" of their "balanced reporting" as being those poor round earthers that clearly don't know what they are saying.

We ought to be VERY thankful that the $2.6 Trillion sitting in the "lockbox" is just paper -- if we really had to pay it, our chances of eventual recovery from the FICA Ponzi scheme would be at least $2.6 Trillion smaller than the tiny chance we have at this point.

BO Against Raising Debt Limit!

Marco Rubio: Why I Won't Vote to Raise the Debt Limit - WSJ.com

"Raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure." So said then-Sen. Obama in 2006, when he voted against raising the debt ceiling by less than $800 billion to a new limit of $8.965 trillion. As America's debt now approaches its current $14.29 trillion limit, we are witnessing leadership failure of epic proportions.

Oh wait, that was in '06, the "epic" hadn't got going yet ... he was going to close Gitmo, thought any use of US forces against mideast dictators was bad (oh, he had more bombastic words than that, but the idea was the same), and thought "transparency" was important. Oops ... different guy, but he is a Democrat, so the MSM seems to find it all OK ."whatever"

It is time for the rest of us to get out of the race to destruction -- good column by Rubio, NOW is the time to turn the debt corner!

 

Doubly Volunteered

Mark Steyn: Do-gooders in a land with no good guys | military, gadhafi, way - Opinion - The Orange County Register

Well written in a humorously cynical manner sure to make BO worshipers cringe. It is sad, sad, sad -- so many good points, so very few ways to see how anyone could defend our current lunacy. This from BO takes the cake though ...

"That's why building this international coalition has been so important," he said the other day. "It is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions that are important not only to us, but are important internationally."

Huh? Our volunteer army -- volunteers to serve and protect AMERICA have been "volunteered by others"? Not BO, apparently he just agreed that folks that signed up to protect their own nation should be selected by some combination of the Arab League and France to go in to dethrone a lunatic that has been just as loony for 30 years. Why now?

There are a TON of good / sad / amazing / observation sin here ... for example.

Four years ago, President Sarkozy hosted a state visit for Col. Gadhafi, his personal security detail of 30 virgins, his favorite camel and a 400-strong entourage that helped pitch his tent in the heart of Paris. Given that London and Paris have the third- and fourth-biggest military budgets on the planet and that between them they know everything about Gadhafi's elite troops, sleeping arrangements, guard-babes and dromedaries, why couldn't they take him out? But no: They, too, decided to volunteer the U.S. military.

Can We Get Real Yet?

The American Spectator : America's Accelerating Downward Spiral

I've been predicting it since we turned the political corner in '06 and put the Dems in the drivers seat. Winning back the house was nice, but the new Republicans are way short of agressive enough on dealing with the problem -- not that they could anyway, with Democrats in the Senate and BO in the WH. I find this guy to be slightly on the optimistic side, but what he points out in the current picture ought to be obvious to everyone drawing breath that isn't just completely in the liberal wacko tank:

• Printing money ("Quantitative Easing") insures high inflation, and in things that matter we are ALREADY in double digit inflation! Been to the food store lately? Fill up your car? Go out to eat? Notice that the new iPad didn't come in with more function AND a lower price as we have come to expect in the tech industry forever? The CPI numbers are actually out showing this fact that was as predictable from the policies selected as night following day ... it is just being hidden by the 30% of the CPI that is housing. (Have you maybe heard that is depressed?)
• Unempoloyment is not really improving -- people are giving up on looking for jobs. During the Bush years, NPR never missed a chance when "ONLY 100K jobs were created in a reporting period" to pronounce 100K new jobs as way too low completely unacceptable, and understating the problem because people were becoming disenchanted and giving up searching for jobs. Oh, and do you remember when every report of new jobs also had to have a big discussion about "how many are GOOD jobs"???!!! Do you notice that sort of derision of new jobs suddenly seems to be missing?  My my how the MSM view of things has changed!
• Every time since 1970 that we have had a spike in fuel prices it has been followed by a rise in unemployment and a downturn in production. When a Republican is in the WH, the MSM is all over that prospect and doing all they can to insure that it happens -- no expense can be spared in getting "better" (Democrat) government if you are in the MSM. Now??? Did someone say that gas was high? Oh well, maybe there will be less pollution. Unfortunately gravity is still in effect -- and the effect is likely to be much worse this time due to the weakness of the current economy and the inability of the current administration to deal with complex economic issues.

Our dependence on the MSM has reached ridiculous proportions, after 8 years of Bush, we got used to a constant drumbeat of negative press even when things were going reasonably well. Now, any blip that could be looked as POTENTIALLY being positive is treated as manna from his worsshipfulness BO, while massive bad news on inflation, employment, federal policies, interest rates, effects of fuel prices, etc is just swept under the rug.

At some point we need to ALL throw politics and partisanship out the window and realize we have dug a deep deep hole of unsustainable policies for at least 80 years (since FDR). We have A LOT of work and a LOT of pain to get this turned around, but if we don't get rolling on in in 2012 and after, it may go so far that the beacon of freedom and prosperity that was bequeathed us by our founders, flickers and dies on our watch, the irresponsible baby boomers who failed in the challenge of keeping the American faith!

Frugal Democrats

RealClearPolitics - Planet Washington

A good description of Democrat "frugality" ... you borrow 40% of a 10K budget to begin with and faced with the obvious need to cut your budget, you offer to spend $28 less!

 

 

But given their terror of forcing a government shutdown, Democrats were forced to counteroffer with a cut of $10.5 billion, or 0.28 percent of the federal budget.

Imagine you have a budget of $10,000 (about 40 percent of it borrowed on a credit card), then "slash" 28 bucks. That's what it's like to be a frugal Democrat.