Alec Baldwin Goes John Galt

Dr. Helen notices some hypocrisy, but I notice a celebrity endorsement of the John Galt lifestyle!

Red Tape? Not in Red China

Read it and weep.

The environment ministry today said it cut its review time for new building proposals to two days from five. The regulator approved 246 projects with a total investment of 970 billion yuan in the first two months.

"It wasn't me, it was the gooks!"

The Yellow Peril, the Asian Menace, call them what you will, but according to a growing number of economists, they're the reason for the economic decline. You know, the one caused by American central bank printing and excessive borrowing by consumers and businesses. Latest j'accuse courtesy of Alan Greenspan. Krugmania now includes fear of the Orient on the list of symptoms.

The Rise of the Chucktatorship

Chuck Norris, President of Texas.

When I appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show, he told me that someone had asked him, "Do you really believe that there is going to be trouble in the future?" And he answered, "If this country starts to spiral out of control and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control, before America allows a country to become a totalitarian country (which it would have under I think the Republicans as well in this situation; they were taking us to the same place, just slower), Americans won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up." Then Glenn asked me and his listening audience, "And where's that going to come from?" He answered his own question, "Texas, it's going to come from Texas. Do you agree with that Chuck?" I replied, "Oh yeah!" Definitely.

It was these types of thoughts that led me to utter the tongue-n-cheek frustration on Glenn Beck's radio show, "I may run for president of Texas!"

We Surround Them

Glenn Beck is having his own get together on Friday.

Do you watch the direction that America is being taken in and feel powerless to stop it?

Do you believe that your voice isn’t loud enough to be heard above the noise anymore?

Do you read the headlines everyday and feel an empty pit in your stomach…as if you’re completely alone?

If so, then you’ve fallen for the Wizard of Oz lie. While the voices you hear in the distance may sound intimidating, as if they surround us from all sides—the reality is very different. Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all.



We surround them.

VDH Drops the Hammer on "Conservatives"

Finally. The sooner the recriminations end, the sooner they can move forward.

Conservatives created Barack Obama and his vision of the Europeanization of America, and so have themselves to blame for the current recessional, as the present as we have known it fades into the past..

Let me explain. Yes, I know that the 2000-01 recession, Hurricane Katrina, two wars, and a $1 trillion hit after 9/11 made fiscal discipline hard. But being a conservative in America these days is hard—and one gets very little leeway or second chances.

Reaping, sowing, and all that jazz. Vox Day also comments on the situation:

Modern politicians didn't cause the economic crisis, as the seeds for that were planted back when the 63rd Congress elected to turn monetary power over to the Federal Reserve. They merely helped determine the particular form it took. If the credit inflation hadn't taken place in the tech and housing sectors, it would simply occurred in some other part of the economy. But in first choosing George W. Bush as their standard bearer, then lining up behind him in support of his wars and occupations, conservatives laid the groundwork to put Obama into office at this critical juncture. The insane selection of John McCain instead of Ron Paul as the 2008 Republican Party standard bearer was little more than the foul icing on an excremental cake. Paul might well have lost... but he certainly couldn't have done any worse than McCain and the Republican Party would have far more credibility with regards to the present crisis than it does now.

ODS

During the Bush years, many liberals had BDS, Bush Derangement Syndrome. I wonder how many conservatives have ODS, Obama Derangement Syndrome. Sure, the guy is more liberal and he's spending way more money on even more wasteful programs, but it isn't as though Bush was much better. Plus, Bush laid the groundwork for Obama. There were conservatives blasting Bush, but most of the party rallied around him. Obama is like 130% McCain. Videos like the one below might suddenly be popular, but if John McCain had won, he'd be effectively destroying just as much of America, except conservatives would cheer it and liberals would scream that it wasn't enough spending and McCain was abusing government power.

And many conservatives are still singing the same tune. Just last week at CPAC, Mitt Romney won with 20%! It's encouraging that Ron Paul tied Sarah Palin with 13%, and Bobby Jindal had 14%, but I don't know enough about Palin or Jindal. I do know, however, that Romney is a liberal who went along with universal health care in Massachusetts. In sum, I'm not going to listen to anyone who gets angry at Obama for doing 130% of what they voted for and/or continue to support.

About those immigrants Mass relies on...

Why Skilled Immigrants Are Leaving the U.S.

Our new paper, "America's Loss Is the World's Gain," finds that the vast majority of these returnees were relatively young. The average age was 30 for Indian returnees, and 33 for Chinese. They were highly educated, with degrees in management, technology, or science. Fifty-one percent of the Chinese held master's degrees and 41% had PhDs. Sixty-six percent of the Indians held a master's and 12.1% had PhDs. They were at very top of the educational distribution for these highly educated immigrant groups -- precisely the kind of people who make the greatest contribution to the U.S. economy and to business and job growth.

The immigrants go home first, but Americans may be following them soon.

And it wasn't just new immigrants who were returning. In fact, 30% of respondents held permanent resident status or were U.S. citizens.

I guess we'll have to rely on the public education system...

Robert Gibbs—Let me break it down for you.

I understand playing politics, but this is really lame. The only reason a President needs to respond to a partisan talk show host is if his comments are finding a mainstream audience.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who last month blasted CNBC host Rick Santelli from the podium in the briefing room, challenged reporters on Monday to ask Republicans if they agree with Limbaugh's desire.

"Do they want to see the president's economic agenda fail? You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend."

Gibbs said he thought "it would be charitable to say he doubled down on what he said in January in wishing and hoping for economic failure in this country."

Pull up a chart of the DJIA or S&P 500 Index. See that chart that goes lower and lower? That's a successful Obama Presidency. If Obama starts losing and his bills are defeated in Congress, the bailouts end, and taxes stay the same, then the chart reverses.

This isn't rocket science. When the president has the wrong policies, we want him to fail and fail spectacularly.

Sorry you work for a loser who's presidency is already worse than Carter or Bush. You jumped the shark and are busy attacking radio hosts and news reporters.
So long, farewell, see you in 2010.

ReTea Party

This is just unacceptable.

The department attributed to rise in incomes to pay raises for federal civilian and military employees, as well as cost-of-living adjustments to several government transfer payments programs. It said excluding these factors, incomes increased by 0.2 percent in January.

Incomes are up thanks to taking money from working people and giving the money to government workers and welfare recipients. By this logic, if you make $40,000 and I make $0, but the government takes all your money and gives it to me, we're both earning $40,000 per year.

And then some Keynesian retardation, but I repeat myself:

"There was a big increase in the savings rate to 5 percent. It is good that people save but it is not good that everybody saves at the same time. That makes the current downturn more severe and long lasting."

Savings jumped to an annual rate of $545.5 billion, the highest level since monthly records began in 1959. The saving rate surged to 5 percent in January, the biggest advance since March 1995, as households uncertain about the economy prefer to conserve their cash.

So during the 1950s to 1980s, when the savings rate was 10 percent, the economy did horribly? How does the savings rate get to 10% unless we're all saving at the same time? And yes, the savings rate needs to get to about 10%, or double current levels.