Unemployment Numbers: Another Reality Check
Friday, November 6th, 2009This is unsurprising:
You don’t create jobs by making the bureaucracy bigger. You pull resources from the private sector making job creation impossible.
President Obama is making all this worse by creating complete instability. No one knows what he is going to do next. So, businesses hoard cash. Business continue hiring freezes even as business seems to turn a bit. Basically, the whole country is in a holding pattern.
If Cap and Trade and Health Care passes, small businesses and their owners will have to cough up any excess cash they’re hoarding to supplement government fantasy programs. They know this. If Card Check passes, big businesses, mostly in the south, know that they will have to fend off threats of unionization and the financial mess that creates.
Instability everywhere does not foster a business and therefore, a job creating environment. It doesn’t look like President Obama or Congress intend to shift directions, so joblessness it is!
Sarah Palin V. Barack Obama: Round Whatever
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009As President Obama pontificates before the UN talking about his four pillars, the first one being disarmament, also known as defanging the West so they’re helpless before an enemy that will never disarm, Sarah Palin talks about what is important to the American people and the economic world: It’s the economy, stupid.
Foreign policy often hinges on economic policy. The guns just back up the message.
Did Sarah Palin’s message work? No one can fully say. The press wasn’t allowed in to hear it. But here are a few of her words via the Wall Street Journal:
“We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place,” the former Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate said Wednesday at a conference sponsored by investment firm CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “We’re not interested in government fixes, we’re interested in freedom,” she added.
Is Barack Obama’s speech before the UN working? He is saying some interesting things, but the meta-message, weakness, will trump all words. No wonder the UN members like him, says the UK’s Nile Gardiner:
It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits the president at Turtle Bay. Obama’s popularity at the UN boils down essentially to his willingness to downplay American global power. He is the first American president who has made an art form out of apologizing for the United States, which he has done on numerous occasions on foreign soil, from Strasbourg to Cairo. The Obama mantra appears to be – ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do to atone for your country. This is a message that goes down very well in a world that is still seething with anti-Americanism.
It is natural that much of the UN will embrace an American president who declines to offer strong American leadership. A president who engages dictators like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez will naturally gain respect from the leaders of the more than 100 members of the United Nations who are currently designated as “partly free” or “not free” by respected watchdog Freedom House.
The UN is not a club of democracies – who still remain a minority within its membership – it is a vast melting pot of free societies, socialist regimes and outright tyrannies. Obama’s clear lack of interest in human rights issues is a big seller at the UN, where at least half its members have poor human rights records.
The United States has a study in contrasts–as does the world. There will be those who dismiss Sarah Palin’s quaint provincialism and extol Barack Obama’s egalitarian moral equivalence. Eventually, though, a world economy driven into the ground by soft-socialistic policies makes even the most ruthless tyrant hunger for the good old days when there was food and riches and wealth.
It’s a good day for evil world leaders if America goes down the toilet, but it’s a suicidal impulse. Americans, too, might want a softer place to land economically, they might desire big spending Eurpoean social programs, but that makes America weak and beholden to foreign nations. Suddenly, American foreign policy is dictated by dictators and those who hold the economic power.
In the end, Sarah Palin’s speech and philosophy will mean more for American security and sovereignty than President Obama’s empty words to a heedless world. They adore Obama but they disrespect the United States because we are buried in debt.
Foreign policy and economic policy are so wrapped together, one can’t be discussed without the other one. President Obama’s philosophy is making America weak both ways.
More on Obama’s policy objectives here:
Undermine our allies. Embolden our enemies. Diminish our country.
Those nine words define the Obama doctrine with respect to American security policy. All three elements were much in evidence in the president’s benighted decision last week to cancel the “third site” for intercontinental-range missile defenses in Eastern Europe. They will be on display as well during this week’s several conclaves with foreign leaders.
The cumulative effect is predictable: A world in which the United States has fewer friends, more enemies and fewer options for assuring its security.
Are We Witnessing The Decline And Fall Of The American Non-Empire?
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009America, as Bill Whittle so eloquently pointed out, is not, and never has been an Empire builder. Still, America has been a world-power since almost her inception over 200 years ago. Is it over?
Today, we learn that America lost to the Swiss as the world’s most competitive economy.
Consider, too, MaxedOutMama‘s take on unemployment (read the whole thing):
At this point one must interpret a bit. One could, if one were to be polemical, argue that the self-employed worker expansion means that the economy is improving so much that contracting jobs are easier to get and highly lucrative. However, I find that completely implausible in view of the massive drop in wage and salary employment, which has never in our experience been a sign of an improving economy. If wage and salary employment were stabilizing, one might indeed expect to see casual contracting picking up, and indeed, at some point this will happen. Companies are extremely loathe to hire in first stages of economic recoveries.
Instead, what I think we are seeing is the first group of long-term unemployed who are losing unemployment benefits and scratching a living. You only have to be employed one hour of one day of the reference week in order to be classified as employed.
A further comment about the government employment – because of the steadiness of government entities, these numbers are generally pretty reliable in both surveys. It is, however, a rather large drop in view of expanded federal employment, especially the census workers, and likely indicates the depth of the state and local combined tax/retirement problem. The combined impact will only increase for years to come.
So, I wonder what you think. Is America going through a downward cycle or is the downward economic trend spelling doom? Is America declining and diminishing, never to rise again? As a cultural, economic, political and military influence, is America over?
2% Too Much: Federal Employees Should Get Pay Cuts, Not Pay Raises
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009Federal government employees make nearly 100% more, on average, per year, than the average American worker. With the deficit soaring, Nancy Pelosi suggested a 19% pay increase. President Obama is getting props for saying it should be 2%.
Pardon me, but what the hell?
Private sector employees are either taking a cut in hours, are laid off or have pay freezes–because that’s what people do to stay competitive in a down economy.
But with the American taxpayer ponying up for Federal employees wages, the sky is the limit. What a disgusting system.
Podcast: Chuck DeVore On Environmentalism Gone Wild [Hello Cap-n-Trade], I.O.U.’s, Prison Release & Other California Craziness–Like Barbara Boxer
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Don’t look now, but while the citizenry wrestles over the notion of Health Care legislation and what that all means, a big (literally bigger) pile of odious legislation sits in committee waiting to enslave Americans with taxes and limited lifestyle: Cap-n-Trade. To understand just how awful Cap-n-Trade is, one only has to look at California to catch a clue.
And how IS California these days? Well, the air is cleaner, which is nice, but unemployment is approaching 15-20% generally and nearly 40% in the agricultural industry. In addition, taxes are going up, prison populations are being released, I.O.U.s are being given, and the state has a prohibitive cost of living associated with less jobs.
Can you say misery?
And yet, the very elements that made this mess, sit in the Cap-n-Trade bill. That bill, by the writers admission, will cause unemployment to increase. There is a provision for more welfare to be paid for those who would be put out of work. It’s a mess of a bill, that would make failed California the model for the nation.
Chuck DeVore talks about all of these problems and the solutions. One solution is to start voting conservatives into office. Barbara Boxer wants to visit upon the nation the Great Depression circumstances now in California. She needs to go.
Chuck DeVore will be challenged in the primary by Carly Fiorina. Voters need to look closely at this woman. Fired from HP, fired from the McCain campaign, not interested enough (or too worried about the political implications) to make a stand and vote, Ms. Fiorina has a couple things the Republican leadership love: money and name recognition. Since America is not yet a Fiefdom, it would seem that ideals and character should matter too. I hope California voters pay attention to this race.
Listen to it all on the podcast. It’s informative.
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Weariness In The Face Of The Government Wolf
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009My concern with the health care debate is that the American people will just be worn down. There has been a lot of wolf crying with non-stop media hysteria. Well, the wolf wants to devour a sixth of the American economy. The wolf is here. The time to fight is now:
You are so sick of the debates. You have a freaking life after all. You have a mortgage. You have kids you worry over. You have a job, if you’re lucky. You like sports. You like your family. You like your car. You like your country. You believe there is a God and after this short time on earth, if there’s any justice, bad guys will pay and good guys will ultimately win. You’re an American. Imperfect, sure, but mostly decent.
It is simply unfathomable that someone would would see that life and think it is bad. It is difficult to comprehend that someone or a group of people would see this life as evil. And yet, many do.
The traditional suburban family, job, kids, house, SUV, sports, dogs, etc. are viewed with suspicion and pure hatred by some. Americans are viewed as wasteful, consumptive, selfish, stupid, parochial simpletons.
The solution to the “problem” of the average American, then, is to help the American live a better life…by force, if necessary. Doctor Zero of Hot Air’s Greenroom has a must read piece titled “The Aggressor State“. He says:
Because liberalism defines itself as transformative, it is very comfortable with aggression. This posture serves them well with a public that believes “progress” is inherently positive. The business of building the modern super-state has been a sustained attack, using cultural pressure, legislative power, and the blunt instrument of loyal voting blocs to beat Middle America into submission. The goal of the Left is to convince the middle class to give it the power to do things they would never be depraved or dishonest enough to do themselves. Ordinary people refer to the “redistribution of wealth” as “theft.” If a man wearing a tailored suit and power tie came to your door one day, and offered to take care of your health, in exchange for surrendering all control over your medical decisions to a board of faceless strangers – who also demand unlimited control over every part of your life that might conceivably impact your health – you’d slam the door in his face and call the cops. If you caught someone writing himself a $4000.00 check from your checkbook, and he explained he needs the money as tribute to his Church of Global Warming so they can save the world from an imaginary evil, you’d shoot first and call 911 later. The mission of the Left is to convince people that all of these outrages become virtuous when elected officials perpetrate them. After all, “they won.” [Emphasis added.]
But those who view American life with contempt know that a direct assault on the American character won’t work. It must be subtle. The arguments must infer that your neighbor, the small business owner whose company earns more than $200,000 is evil, not you. The insurance company is evil–hell, you know the pain in the ass insurance companies can be. The talk show host is evil–well, crud, Mr. Big Mouth Talk Show Host sure can be annoying sometimes. Then anyone who thinks mandatory union membership seems oppressive is evil. Then people who like their incandescent lights are evil. The circle begins to expand. Like a consuming Venn diagram, suddenly, all Americans, even you, are inside the circle of evil.
How did that happen?
Cash For Clunkers: Do You Mind Paying For Someone Else’s Car?
Monday, August 3rd, 2009Really, the Cash for Clunkers deal is another government program where one part of the population subsidizes another part of the population.
First, banks.
Second, houses.
Third, car companies.
Fourth, extended unemployment.
Now, cars for citizens.
Part of me doesn’t mind the last one because there is at least something tangible coming out of this subsidy and each car is probably taxed at $4,000 when it’s all said and done, so it’s like a tax-free weekend for cars. Still, one part of the population is being taxed to give the money to another part of the population.
Cash for Clunkers is another redistribution of wealth. Period. It is immoral, even if the consequences are helpful in the short term. Imagine writing a $4000 check to your neighbor to buy his car that he likely can’t afford anyway. Suddenly, the program doesn’t seem so nice.
And actually, if the President gave a rats ass about the economy and believed that stimulus was the way out of the misery, he’d put forth more programs like the Cash for Clunkers deal–something that infuses the economy immediately. Still, the stimulative effect will last only as long as the incentives are in place. The economy itself feels so unstable, people don’t want to take risks. They are hoarding their money…until lulled out of their saving with enticements like Cash for Clunkers.
What the Cash for Clunkers deal illustrates is that money in the Free Market makes a difference. Had the government given every voting citizen a sum of money, instead of bloating the bureaucracy, the recession would be over, jobs would be created and the government would be smaller. But the goal of the President isn’t to end the recession, it’s to end the concept of small government. The goal is to empower the state. And Cash for Clunkers is just one more way Daddy Government Man controls the purse-strings and the livelihoods of Americans. Their happiness depends on Uncle Sam’s cash. That’s where the equation goes wrong.
Note: As an aside, should John McCain and the Republicans come out against this program? It is popular and it is tangible. Strategically, I think the Republicans should note what I have and save their fire. I put this in the same category of Sotomayer. It’s going to happen, might as well make the most of it.
Also, I think the lesson learned here, is that people with money in their pockets will do more for the economy that stupid “shovel-ready” (really unready) projects. It’s called trickle down…..it works….in the short term, at least.
UPDATE: Fiery Dog says Americans are selling their souls for $4000.
Unemployment Extended Benefits Ending For 1.5 Million People
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009The New York Times shares the ominous data. Calculated Risk has the scary graphs and interpretation and says:
Right now very few workers have exhausted their unemployment benefits, but there is tidal wave coming. The Law Project estimates 0.5 million workers will have exhausted their extended benefits by the end of September, and close to 1.5 million by the end of 2009. Unless the unemployment rate starts to decline, the numbers will continue to grow rapidly in 2010.
I’m going off in a tangential direction here. How in the hell are we going to pay for Government Run Health Care if no one is paying taxes because people don’t have jobs? How is the government going to increase taxes when people aren’t working? How will current government policies not make every single economic reality in America worse in the coming years?
Michelle Malkin is wondering the same thing and says:
There was a brief discussion of Obamacare and I noted the Tea Party groundswell of grass-roots revolts at congressional town halls across the country. The panel balked at my reference to the 1994 Hillarycare debacle — and the turning point in Seattle when Hillary was loudly and openly booed by protesters. But mark my words: Just as the American public turned back the government health care takeover 15 years ago, it will be activist taxpayers uncowed by their ram-it-and-jam-it lawmakers who beat socialized medicine back again this summer.
My bottom line: Obama has vastly overreached on both the redistribution of wealth and the redistribution of health.
Well, the libs have done a better job this time framing health care as a right. They thought they could sneak it past everyone. They may still try to “ram it through”, but they will pay a price.
Again, the Left is trying to portray anyone who disagrees with their solutions to the health care problem as not acknowledging that there’s a health care problem. That’s completely false. Conservatives and Republicans see the same reality that Democrats do–in fact, in the Senate they see it better. The only two doctors in the Senate are Republicans but they are no more being listened to than any other Republican.
Bottom line, America cannot afford this largess. This money will need to be paid back. And the American taxpayer will be paying it.
Congressmen Worried About Townhalls
Friday, July 31st, 2009Now, why in heavens sweet name would citizens be upset about the government? Could it be:
The economy stinks and the stimulus is a big flaming ball of disaster. From Calculated Risk:
This is the fourth consecutive quarterly decline in GDP; the first time that has happened since the government started keeping quarterly records in 1947.
The president treats anyone who disagrees with him as an enemy.
The health care plan seems like another big government plan doomed to fail….like, say, other simple simon ill-conceived easy government plans.
AJ Strata says:
We have had months of growing unemployment, even after a rushed stimulus bill was passed which promised to stem the tide of pink slips. Only to find out the stimulus package wasn’t really meant to stimulate a damn thing until late this year, early next.
And we have had an assault on our health care system which is expensive – not broken. The proposed cure is much worse than the problem of rising costs.
Amidst all this we have racked up mind blowing record deficits this year – all to no avail. It will take decades and generations to pay this wasted money back.
Yeah, why are people upset? I don’t get it. /Sarcasm off.
If Bush Had An Economy This Horrible Would He Get This Headline?–UPDATED
Friday, July 31st, 2009From the New York Times, this headline: “U.S. Economy Shrank Less Than Expected in Quarter”.
Here is the content of the article: Things are so much better than expected, blah, blah, blah. Economists agree, blah, blah, blah. Advisers close to President Obama are cautiously optimistic blah, blah, blah, and tout the government policies, blah, blah, blah.
There, now you don’t have to read it.
Oh, and here is a sample of the headline, if the President’s name was George W. Bush: U.S. Depression II Continues As Economy Shrank Again In Last Quarter.
I suggest you come up with your own.
UPDATED: Woo Hoo!
