Tag Archives: Economy

China, Economy, Politics, Vietnam

Vietnam, U.S. Lifts Weapons Embargo

A few weeks ago,  the business channels were noticing stocks rise for defense contractors and asking why that would be? Here’s one reason.

On May 1, the Royal Australian Air Force boasted a fleet of no fewer than 93 Boeing-built F/A-18 fighter jets, with 12 more on order. The country also has orders in for a dozen more F-18-derived EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft from Northrop Grumman — and 100 of Lockheed Martin’s fancy new F-35 stealth fighters, with two already in training.

And here’s another. Today, while President Obama visits Vietnam, we learn this.

President Barack Obama announced Monday that the United States would begin selling weapons to the communist nation of Vietnam, a final shift four decades after the two countries engaged in war.

 Not that there’s anything wrong with helping Vietnam protect itself from an ever-belligerent China. Will be interesting to see if his political base will call him out with their “industrial military complex” rant or if the Limbaugh Theorem will prevail.
Economy, Media, Politics, Race Relations

President Hates America

Media headline, “Obama says U.S. race relations have improved, but work to be done.” Don’t you mean Obama “claims” U.S. race relations have improved? More work to be done? Like this?

First President ever to hate his country. So much so that he wants to fundamentally change it.

And the only way he’s getting away with it is, because he’s Black. And if you disagree with his agenda, then you are called a racist. Not patriotic. A racist. Not only by his acolytes, but by the willing media as well.

Part of the American Dream is the mobility of the people that liberty and opportunity affords. Blacks don’t have a monopoly on being “poor.” He wants to make sure that if you succeed and want to move to a better place, regardless of the color of your skin, that it won’t exist.

His agenda includes killing the American dream.

Links: Obama says U.S. race relations have improved, but work to be done  |  Obama’s last act is to force suburbs to be less white and less wealthy

2016 Election, Economy, Media, Politics

2016, It’s Still Bush’s Fault

In year eight of the Obama administration, it is amazing to watch the Democratic candidates on the campaign trail.

They both say how terrible the economy has treated Americans. And the town-hall regular citizens complain to them about unemployment, high cost of health care, etc.. And neither of them lay the blame on the Obama regime. It’s as if he was not in charge for the last seven years.

Then you hear President Obama talk about how wonderful his recovery and economic policies have been. Especially Obamacare. And how he has created a gazillion jobs.

Listening to it all can subject you to political whiplash. Watch the candidates, and watch President Obama. The economy is good. The economy sucks. The economy is good. The economy sucks. See how dangerous that can be for one’s psyche?

When asked why two-thirds of Americans still think the country is on the wrong track, President Obama has an explanation for it. For “some people” (that would be two-thirds of Americans), it’s all Bush’s fault.

Here’s the kicker.  “There’s still more we can do.” Like “investing” in infrastructure and education.  Isn’t that what that $787 Billion stimulus bill in 2008 was for? And the $302 Billion more two years ago? The same old RBI line. Roads, Bridges, and Infrastructure.

Obama’s explanation . . .

[Wages and incomes] haven’t gone up as quickly as people had been accustomed to in previous generations. There are a lot of reasons for that. Global competition. Technology. You know, corporate practices have changed. In some cases tax policies that I’d like to see changed, and I’ve tried to push Congress to change have made a difference.

“Haven’t gone up as quickly as people had been accustomed to?” You mean like when there was a competent leader in The White House who understood free-market economics? Wages and incomes have dropped.

Why is that? According to the president, it’s because of global competition, technology, and, corporate practices have changed. Spoken like a true ignoramus on free-market economics and capitalism. In his world, which Ms. Sinclair refused to penetrate, companies and industries are not supposed to protect their interests. They’re not supposed to react to market or government pressures. They are supposed to do what the government wants them to do, including pay higher taxes and spend shareholder’s investments where he says they should. That’s economic fascism.

You can’t spend your way into prosperity, nor borrow your way out of debt. Winston Churchill understood economics, “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”

It’s disgusting to see financial reporter Nicole Sinclair let Obama get away with his excuse without challenge and, in light of more than doubling the national debt, sit there and say “we need to spend more.” Zero accountability for the last seven years and 10 trillion dollars (and climbing) national debt. It is typical of the way the media has given this president a pass throghout his presidency.

Link: Obama articulates why Americans are so unhappy

2016 Election, Economy, Organized Labor, Politics

Capitalism Good, Socialism Bad

The more that the federal government interferes with free-market economics, it cripples capitalism. It gives us the current situation of unsustainable debt, long-term unemployment, decreasing family income, and skyrocketing costs.

So what is the Democratic Party’s solution? Keep on crippling capitalism so they can claim that capitalism doesn’t work.

The Democratic Party offers us two choices. One is a Socialist, the other is a Big Government Tax and Spender. Actually, they’re both Big Government Tax and Spenders. And on top of that, they’re both competing for the top spot in a fascist economic regime.

Not only are they going to increase taxes on the very people they expect to start a business and create jobs, but they are going to tell companies what they can make, sell, and how much they have to pay their employees.  And they remain clueless as to  why companies, and whole industries, are fleeing the country.

The answer to our problems is not more of what caused them and, more government The answer to our problems is more free-market capitalism and, less government.

Economy, Gun Control, Politics

Operation Choke Point In Jeopardy

Yesterday, the House voted to keep due process and private enterprise by passing H.R. 766 by 265-199.

WashTimesChokePointBizzes2014Operation Choke Point was the Obama administration’s way to unlawfully use the back door to stifle businesses, if not end them, that they do not like, based solely on ideological grounds. Due process not required.

The two primary targets of Operation Choke Point have been the short-term lending industry and firearm sellers. The distaste for both are rooted in leftist ideology. Progressives hate private lending, because they believe people cannot make financial decisions for themselves. In addition, there is ample evidence that the federal government wants to replace private lending with financial services provided by the Post Office. As for firearms, well, we know all about progressives and the Second Amendment.

It is also instructive to note that the bill passed pretty much on party lines. Democrats overwhelmingly voted against the bill. Or to put it another way, Democrats voted to keep the use of the federal government as a tool to punish businesses and industries they do not like.

YEAS NAYS PRES NV
REPUBLICAN 241 1 3
DEMOCRATIC 24 158 6
INDEPENDENT
TOTALS 265 159   9

 

H.R. 766 “prohibits a federal banking agency from formally or informally suggesting, requesting, or ordering a depository institution to terminate either a specific customer account, or group of customer accounts, or otherwise restrict or discourage it from entering into or maintaining a banking relationship with a specific customer or group of customers, unless: (1) the agency has a material reason to do so, and (2) the reason is not based solely on reputation risk.” The bill passed 265-159 and now goes to the Senate.

Links: What If Operation Choke Point Was Used Against Progressive-Friendly Businesses?  |  H.R. 766: Financial Institution Customer Protection Act of 2015

 

2016 Election, Economy, Energy, Pensacola, Politics

Stumped On Trump

Up until the other day, both of the so-called outsiders had me going ‘yeah, that’s right.’ Both Ted Cruz and Donald J. Trump championed free-market capitalism. Both believed that corporate welfare and crony capitalism had no place in a government by, of, and for the people. Both denounce pandering to special interests.

This is what Trump said in Pensacola just last week: (h/t Inweekly)

“Believe me, so much special interest that the politicians they’re all talk, they’re no action. They’re controlled by their lobbyist or their special or their donors, totally. If it’s bad remember this, if it’s bad for the United States, and if it’s good for them and the people they’re representing, forget it. The United States doesn’t have a chance.”

This all changed when Cruz was polling closer to Trump, and the Iowa caucuses became imminent.

Trump is a smart guy, and at the top of his game in his profession. But to now accuse Ted Cruz of being beholden to Big Oil because he does not support the food-for-fuel scam on the public called government subsidizing the ethanol industry, he has dropped off the conservative wagon. Aside from that accusation being patently not true, Cruz wants to end subsidies to the oil industry as well. He wants to end all govt subsidies, leaving the innovation and success in all industries up to the free market.

There is a contradiction that I can’t reconcile here about Trump. When in Iowa, to talk about not only supporting govt intervention and subsidies to the ethanol industry, (which makes fuel and food more expensive, and has a larger carbon footprint to produce than what is purported to save by using it http://bit.ly/aFcNt9), Trump is calling for increasing ethanol government subsides. If that’s not pandering, I don’t know what is. I’m sure his recent endorsee, Sarah Palin, would be in favor of ending the Big Agra welfare. Not increasing it. Hoping she can get his mind right on this.

It’s a contradiction in everything Trump has campaigned on until he entered Iowa. If a close and credible challenge is all it takes for him to change his principles, I’m sorry to see it.

I’m also sorry to see him lying about Cruz, just like Democrats do, to try to discredit him. The opportunity for a Republican landslide is at hand. It’s the Republican’s election to lose. Keep your taking points and criticisms of your opponents factual. Mr. Trump, don’t screw it up by going to the dark side.

2016 Election, Economy, Media, Politics, Race Relations

The Social Justice Scam

Does the Democratic Party own misery? The answer to this question lies in how Democrats get their power base. It’s called identity politics. They play and prey on victimhood. And there’s no better example how that has worked than a look of Baltimore, MD.

baltimore_democrat-run

Stunning statistics. You might think that Baltimore is a utopia of some measure. But, it’s not. Baltimore has not had a Republican mayor since 1967. Other Democrat-run cities join Baltimore with surging gun crime. Using the logic of the Left and President Obama, seems like banning Democrats would be “doing something, anything to prevent gun violence.”

During the racially tumultuous 1950’s and 60’s, more and more Black Americans began to migrate to the Republican Party. President Lyndon B. Johnson set out to change that with his ‘War on Poverty.’ Johnson set out to get Blacks voting for Democrats by, essentially, paying them off with welfare.

In the decades that followed, the demographics of large cities changed. For two reasons. “The greatest generation” (not all White) experienced the American Dream they created. Good economic conditions enabled them to make the move to the suburbs to raise their family with space and a yard. Two comforts not found in a big city. The whole Ozzie and Harriet thing. At the same time, Johnson’s War on Poverty created a migration of Americans (not all Black) from small towns in the country into these cities.  Because that’s where the welfare money is. The perceived ‘victims’ went to where the ‘help’ was. That help, led to the dissolving of family values and the family unit itself. It led to a condition where the government supplanted the family values and personal responsibility that existed before the War on Poverty.

The same cities, at the same time, saw the growth of suburbs. Something President Obama is waging his own war against. Race pimp that he is, he and the left/media call this migration ‘White flight,’ even though Blacks are moving out too. Labeling the population migration by race serves to support the victimhood status of Blacks, and ‘justifies’ even more welfare and dependency on government.

Lyndon Johnson’s plan worked beyond his wildest dreams. Black Americans consistently vote Democrat by over 90%. The latest incarnation of the War on Poverty is “Social Justice.” No one believes the war on poverty is intended to end poverty or help the poor, but to perpetuate it for political gain. That’s what Social Justice, the latest incarnation, is intended to do.

As the graphic on Baltimore shows, the only winner here is the Democrat Party. The losers are the people in those cities who vote for them.

As more of the (shrinking) working and middle class and (expanding) poor people are coming to realize, the solution to ending the misery is to try something different. It’s not about what the politicians in Washington are going to do specifically for your segment of the population, but what they can do for everybody.

Links: The Baltimore Democrats Built |  Other Democrat-Run Cities Join Baltimore with Surging Gun Crime  |  HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS, REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS

2016 Election, Economy, Immigration, Politics

Speaker Ryan’s Betrayal

It was only few weeks ago, that Speaker Ryan said he was going to do ‘regular orders.’

We need to let every member contribute, not once they earn their stripes, but now. The committees should take the lead in drafting all major legislation: If you know the issue, you should write the bill. Let’s open up the process. In other words, we need to return to regular order.

There was not going to be these huge bills presented with no time to read what’s in them. Never mind have a debate on what’s in them. He assured Republicans in the House that he wasn’t going to do, what he just did.

Aside from that, what he just did, if approved, is fund the entire Democrat agenda. With few exceptions, there’s no difference between the tax, borrow, and spend Democrats and this Republican party. Senator Sessions (R-AL) is one of those exceptions.

https://youtu.be/PBqrWL3h9-g

So now Speaker Ryan says that’s for next year. No it’s not. Kill the bill now. Pass temporary spending at current levels, nothing added, until the bill can be put through regular orders.

So what’s the big deal you ask? Ask the minorities in this country how their employment situation is? Isn’t 50% of Black youth unemployment high enough? Do we really need to bring in 4 times as many unskilled and low-skilled (aka entry-level) alien workers next year as we did this year? Has the average family income of American middle class citizens not fallen enough that we should make it tougher on them to live and raise a family?  Is bringing in not 10,000, but 175,000 Syrian refugees, with work permits and visas, with path to citizenship, who our own government acknowledges can not be vetted, good for American citizens? Is it good for our nation’s safety and security? That’s all in this omnibus bill.

Then there’s the bigger picture. This country is already broke.  We already have in excess of $200 Trillion in unfunded mandated spending with no plan on fixing that. So we may as well make it worse? Is it better to go over the cliff at 100 miles per hour than at 50 miles per hour?

This bill is a raw attack on America’s future. It is a raw attack on the incomes of people who are not yet born. People born today are inheriting massive personal debt thanks to the irresponsible actions, regardless of political party in power, of this government. But irresponsible actions of Republicans in particular. They control the House. They have the power of the purse. They control (or not) government spending.

Which explains why the “outsiders” in the Republican primary are getting hit just as hard from the establishment Republicans as they are from Democrats. Our only hope to turn this ship around is to put one of them in The White House. And in subsequent elections, start cleaning house.

Vote the people who created this problem out of office. Replace them with people who won’t lie to you about how they’re going to cut the debt, fix the unfunded mandates problem, keep our country safe, and protect Americans first.

Economy, Media, Politics

Grass Roots Going Red

Did you know that the largest legislative district in Arizona just flipped from blue to red? Of course you didn’t.

Arizona State Senator Carlyle Begay, a Navajo (who also call themselves Diné) whose district includes Navajo and Hopi tribal lands, announced Monday that he is switching to the Republican Party.

With this addition, Republicans now control 18 of 30 seats in the Arizona upper chamber.

The part of President Obama’s legacy that is continually overlooked is the part that shows legislative districts shifting from blue (Democrat) to red (Republican). And it is not in spite of Obama’s push to social justice and socialism, it is because of it.

Link: Democrat senator BRILLIANTLY explains why he just switched REPUBLICAN; this loss will sting!

Economy, Florida, Media, Organized Labor, Pensacola, Politics, Whiners

Rally? What Rally?

There was supposed to be a ‘raise the minimum wage’ rally downtown last evening. Organized by a local labor union.

I couldn’t be there. Had to work. But I wanted to see a fat protester holding up a sign whining about having to work for a ‘starving wage.’ (found a pic on google)

So it was with eager anticipation to check the local newspaper this morning to see what happened. Nothing there. Zip, zero, nada. Nothing in the local alternative media either. Feeling a mild case of Schadenfreude here.

UPDATE: 11/11/2015 Thanks to one of the participant’s feedback, the “rally” wasn’t really a rally. I was mistaken. Instead of a rally, it was a “forum” held somewhere in town. Probably a union hall somewhere. Regardless, there was no rally. And no news coverage of the forum either. I mean really, who thinks labor unions would want the folks to know why they are supporting raising the minimum wage, for non-union workers?

Related Link: Labor Union Self Interest: Facts Behind Organized Labor’s Push to Raise the Federal Minimum Wage