HALF-FULL REPORT 12/17/10
There comes a time upon reaching a certain age when the two most wonderful words you can hear are, "It's benign." That happened to me after a surgical procedure yesterday (I had a tumor wrapped round my vocal cord like a snake), and it prompts me to start this week's HFR with a request. The TTP Forum has long benefited from the wit and wisdom of "Mae" - Lynda Mae Calhoun. Like so many other TTPers, I always look forward to her Forum comments and insights on various articles. Mae lives in Vancouver, Washington (just across the Columbia River from Portland). Next week - just three days before Christmas on the 22nd at the Southwest Washington Medical Center - Mae faces major surgery the cause of which may be a malignancy. She's going to face this alone, save for a handful of nieces and nephews - and I'd like to ask you to let Mae know via the Forum that she is not alone, that her TTP Family is praying for her. Prayer is such a powerful healing force, especially at Christmas time. Let's be sure she knows: our prayers are with you, Mae! * * * * * The HFR was in no doubt about who should be dubbed the Hero of the Week - until last night, when another contender emerged.
OBAMACARE TAKES A MAJOR HIT
It's been a tough week for Obamacare. On Monday (12/13), Rasmussen released a poll taken the week before which indicated 60 percent of likely voters favor repeal of President Barack Hussein Obama's signature "accomplishment." Only 34 percent were opposed. The same day a federal district judge in Virginia ruled the key provision in Obamacare, which requires Americans to buy health insurance or pay a hefty fine (2.5 percent of annual income), is unconstitutional. Two other federal district judges, one in Michigan and another in Virginia, have ruled the individual mandate is constitutional. There are many more acts to come in this drama. Judge Hudson issued his ruling in a lawsuit brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. Today (12/16), a federal district judge in Florida heard arguments on a suit brought by 20 other state attorneys general. The constitutionality of Obamacare likely will be debated in several courts of appeal before it makes its way to the Supreme Court in a year or so. The score so far is 2-1 in favor of constitutionality. But Georgetown University Law Professor Randy Barnett thinks Judge Hudson's decision is a game-changer.
PROOF THAT FEMINISM IS DEAD
Making the rounds on YouTube these days is a film of a group of manly looking women preparing for and conducting a "flash dance" in a Philadelphia food store. [Warning - the video is 5 minutes and 44 seconds of boring, obnoxious, and unattractive women - JW] The crew of ladies, dressed in tight black clothes and sequined accessories, arrives at The Fresh Grocer supermarket, breaks into a preplanned chant ordering shoppers not to buy Sabra and Tribe hummus, to oppose Israeli "apartheid" and support "Palestine." From their attire and attitude, it is fairly clear that the participants in the video would congratulate themselves on their commitment to the downtrodden, the wretched of the earth suffering under the jackboot of the powerful. They would likely all also describe themselves as feminists. But if being a human rights activist means attacking the only country in the Middle East that defends human rights, then that means that at the very basic level, the term "human rights activist" is at best an empty term. And if being a feminist means attacking the only country in the Middle East where women enjoy freedom and equal rights, then feminism too, has become at best, a meaningless term. Indeed, if these anti-Israel female protesters are feminists, then feminism is dead.
ARE DEMOCRATS SPACE ALIENS?
Never has the expression "What planet are these people from?" seemed more appropriate than when it refers to the actions of the majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives this week on the proposed tax bill "compromise." In the real world, their choice is that they either vote for the compromise, which means no one will suffer a tax increase as of Jan. 1, or that everyone will have a huge tax increase. Also, the lowest wage earners will see a 50 percent jump in their tax rates, from 10 percent to 15 percent. The main point of the House Democrats' pique is that some "rich" Americans may be able to avoid having more than 50 percent of their incomes confiscated by the government and that those people's heirs may not have to pay a 55 percent tax on their inheritance if the compromise bill passes. President Obama and his left-wing friends keep telling us that the "rich," meaning any family whose combined income is more than $250,000 annually, can "afford" to pay more. "Afford" is an interesting term in that it refers to the ability to pay but denotes nothing about the willingness of the person to pay or the justice in making the person pay.
WHO SURRENDERED TO WHOM – OBAMA OR THE GOP?
Last Friday (12/10) the most remarkable news conference of the Obama presidency took place. Many who watched with slack-jawed amazement when the president abdicated the podium to former President Bill Clinton overlooked the irony of the pair endorsing as economic necessity extension of the Bush tax rates against which both have railed for lo these many years. His flip flop was a brilliant political move, said conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. "Barack Obama has won the great tax cut showdown of 2010," he declared. Mr. Obama won, Mr. Krauthammer said, because the deal amounts to a second stimulus that will improve the economy enough to boost his prospects for re-election. But another conservative columnist, Dick Morris, said what the president had negotiated with Republicans "was surrender, pure and simple." Mr. Obama "desperately wants to raise taxes on wealthy people, not for the revenue as much to redistribute income," Mr. Morris said. "But he couldn't do it and gave in." Who's right? Who surrendered to whom?
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/10/10
Hard to believe Christmas Eve is two short weeks away. For those folks not yet checked off on your Christmas gift list, the HFR suggests a copy of The Jade Steps. Or a Gift Subscription to To The Point. You can gift a friend with a one-month, a three-month - or for a special friend an entire year - of the insights on the world that only TTP provides. The HFR can't think of better gifts than these, that will be more valued and appreciated by your friends. (I should add here that Dr. Joel Wade's Pocket Guide to Mastering Happiness makes a great low-cost stocking stuffer...) * * * * * Before we look at the dog's breakfast in Washington this week, let's have some fun at the Chicoms' expense. Ever heard of the Confucius Peace Prize? Neither did its recipient, who didn't bother to show up at the awards ceremony. The result was the Chicoms ended up this week being laughed at and compared to the Nazis at the same time. The world needs more of this.
WILL THE DEMOCRATS’ ROSS PEROT ELECT SARAH PALIN?
Remember 1992? A first-term president, who started out with sky-high popularity then squandered it, was running against a governor from a hick state - and lost, thanks to billionaire Ross Perot's third party candidacy that split the GOP vote. Will history obversely repeat itself 20 years later, with a billionaire's third party candidacy splitting the Dem vote and electing Sarah Palin? That's why the most interesting political development this week wasn't the deal President Obama struck with congressional Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts, or the bizarre news conference Mr. Obama held to defend it. It was...
THE CHINESE PIG
Bacon, ham, prosciutto, Cumberland sausage, baby back ribs, pork chops, suckling pig... it's amazing how many wonderful things to eat come from one animal. But we're not talking here about pigs that farmers raise and we love to consume. We could talk about another kind of pig - namely, the PIGS of Europe that are being devoured by their debt and profligacy: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Or is it PIIGS now with Ireland? We could talk about the American Pig, even more bloated with public union moochers and subsidized corporate parasites than Europe, with state after state facing bankruptcy. Instead, though, we're going to talk about the Chinese Pig. Tout le monde seems fixated on the impending collapse of the Euro and the Dollar, but what about the impending collapse of the Yuan? Most fears are focused on Ireland or Spain or California going bankrupt. What if China goes belly up? The global impact would make Spain's seem penny-ante.
STIMULATING THE ECONOMY REQUIRES STRANGLING GOVERNMENT SPENDING
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It’s the elephant in the room. But few besides W. Kurt Hauser seem to have noticed it.
Since World War II, federal tax revenues have only rarely, only barely, and only briefly exceeded 19 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), noted Mr. Hauser, chairman of an investment management firm in San Francisco and chairman emeritus of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, in the Wall Street Journal Nov. 26. (The average since 1950 has been a hair under 18 percent.)
This has been so when tax rates were high and when tax rates were low (during this period, the top marginal income tax rate has fluctuated between 28 percent and 92 percent); when the economy was strong and when the economy was weak.
How can this be?
THE FAILURE OF THE FED
he Federal Reserve is supposed to maintain the value of the currency and keep the banking system sound and stable - which it has not done (more on that below). Yet, in 1978, Congress passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, which, in part, also gave the Fed some explicit responsibility for maintaining full employment but did not provide the tools to do so. The Fed does have the tools to increase or decrease the money supply, which means it can control the rate of inflation or deflation. However, the Fed has done a poor job of maintaining the value of the currency, as the dollar is now worth only about one-twenty-second of its 1913 value. The Fed also was supposed to maintain a sound and stable banking system; however, since the Fed was created in 1913, bank failures have been at a higher rate than during the pre-Fed period. Despite its record of failure, the Fed (as noted) was given the additional responsibility to maintain full employment. Washington operates differently from the real world, where failures are punished. In Washington, failure deserves a promotion.