BAILOUTS AND PUBLIC PENSIONS
Do insolvent states actually believe other states should bail them out? I predicted they would back in June 2009. Sure enough, folks in Washington and in over-spending state capitols are now whispering the dreaded "b-word": bailouts - for individual states! American taxpayers should not be expected to bail out wasteful state governments. Fiscally liberal states spent years running away from the hard decisions that could have put their finances on a more solid footing. Now they expect taxpayers from other states to bail them out, which will allow them to postpone the tough decisions they should have made ages ago and continue spending like there's no tomorrow. Most Americans would say these states have made their bed and now they've got to lie in it. They accepted federal dollars and did not voice opposition to the unfunded federal mandates, and they even re-elected politicians who foisted debt-ridden programs on them that could never be sustained. Instead of coming to D.C. cap in hand asking for more "free" money, they should follow the example of their more prudent sister states and take the necessary steps to sort out their own finances. They must start by reforming their insolvent pension systems.
THE COUNTRY THAT DOESN’T EXIST
Want to come with me to the country that doesn't exist? Plan to pack your bags this coming February. Imagine a Moslem country that is a real democracy, pro-America, pro-free market, despises Islamist ideology and terrorism, and lies athwart one of the world's most critical chokepoints in global shipping and trade. The US State Department would leap at the chance to support such a country, right? You are probably cynically shaking your head no - but it's much worse than that. Our government refuses to recognize the country's existence. In fact, no government or international organization in the world does - yet is has been sovereign and independent since 1991. With no help or recognition from anyone, this country has managed to survive - and survive as a capitalist Moslem terrorist-free democracy - for nearly 20 years. This is a heroic achievement - and unknown to most everyone on the planet. We are talking about Somaliland - the Country That Doesn't Exist.
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/03/10
We open this week's HFR with a Special News Bulletin from the Associated Press: In response to the "Cablegate" scandal - the release of a quarter-million classified State Department documents by WikiLeaks - the US Government announced today that henceforth all Top Secret government documents will be placed in an "ultimate" secure location. "This location is so secure that even people with the highest of clearances cannot gain access," said R.J. Finklestein, Director of the Federal Document Classification Agency (FDCA) in a press release today. All classified documents, Mr. Finklestein announced, will now be stored at the same location storing Barack Hussein Obama's Birth Certificate, College Transcripts, SSN applications, and off-shore campaign contributors list. "Using our Ultimate Secure Location, we are quite sure that WikiLeaks will never be able to access any more classified documents," noted the FDCA director, "nor will anyone else."
WHY ARE THE NORKS OUR PROBLEM?
It is, as Yogi Berra might say, déjà vu all over again on the Korean peninsula. On Tuesday, Nov. 23, North Korea fired artillery rockets at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians, and wounding 18 others. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Monday (11/29) South Korea will "sternly retaliate" if there are any further provocations from the Norks. The North Korean artillery attack was a "provocative" show of force that "needs to be dealt with," said US President Barack Hussein Obama. This song has been sung before. On March 26, North Korea sank a South Korean frigate, killing 46. President Lee promised "resolute" measures then. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attack on the frigate, and declared it would not go "unanswered." But it did go unanswered.
THE ULTIMATE INSIDERS
Here's the essay question for today's exam, class: Are Members of Congress and their staffers the ultimate insiders, making money off advance economic knowledge? Discuss. Stock or commodity trading on "inside information" has been illegal since the early 1960s. Yet there is one group that frequently has access to nonpublic information that can greatly affect stock prices, to the extent of making or breaking a company or even an industry, and these "insiders" are considered exempt from prosecution by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The insiders I refer to are members of Congress and their staffs. They have prior knowledge about which companies or industries will or will not be "bailed out," have their taxes raised or lowered, be subject to costly new regulations or exempted from such regulations, receive government contracts, etc. However, because the members of Congress and their staffs do not obtain their information from employees of the companies affected, they are not considered insiders.
THE REAL DAMAGE OF WIKILEAKS
What's most important about the latest WikiLeaks dump of secret U.S. diplomatic cables isn't what's in the cables themselves. Most appalling is that an Army PFC with no need to know was able not only to access these documents, but to copy them without detection, and to dispatch them to WikiLeaks. This was an egregious neglect of elementary security for which heads should roll. There is no evidence that any heads have. This was the second WikiLeaks data dump. The Justice Department took no action after the first WikiLeaks data dump in July. But Attorney General Eric Holder is considering legal action this time. "Why is this round of leaks any different than previous leaks about the military?" asks Web logger Ed Morrissey (Hot Air). "It seems that the release of the diplomatic cables, unlike the earlier releases which identified hundreds of informants in Afghanistan and exposed them to mortal danger, embarrasses Obama administration officials."
THANKS, JULIAN!
I can't believe how much fun this WikiLeaks hysteria is. All kinds of normally sane people absolutely going berserk-o, publicly demanding the perp involved, an Aussie named Julian Assange, be assassinated or tried for treason and executed. How to respond to such totally over the top lunacy except to say Whiskey Tango Foxtrotting Foxtrot? Maybe there will be items to emerge out of the quarter-million "secret" US diplomatic cables that will justify the anger - but so far, the stuff that's been released is great. We'll soon discuss why in detail, but first let's talk about the huge debt of gratitude Sarah Palin owes Julian Assange. All you Palinistas out there - and I'm one - should shout Hallelujah for the enormous act of public service Assange has performed. He has single-handedly obliterated - as in nuked - Hillary Clinton's chances for the White House. Everyone in Washington knows Zero is a one-termer. Sarah would clean his clock in 2012 - just as would any conservative GOP candidate. But the reality is that Sarah would lose to Hillary. HRC is a far more formidable Dem candidate than Zero. Should Zero pull a LBJ and not run, or should she challenge him in the primaries, she would win the nomination - and the presidency. Not any more, for that analysis is so yesterday. "The greatest foreign policy disaster in US history" has happened on Hillary's watch. Any chief executive would have to fire her, and Zero needs a scapegoat in any regard. Her political career is over - finita la musica, the Clinton's music is finished. Thanks, Julian.
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/26/10
I was hoping for a short and sweet HFR this week, as it's truncated by Thanksgiving. No such luck. We have a lot of ground to cover, so let's get started. To my mind, the only reason to talk about a problem is as a prelude to searching for a serious solution to it. That's why I'm so tired of terrified complaints over North Korea. Here's a suggestion of how to get rid of the Norks... ...That's acting seriously regarding North Korea - and we're capable of it if we look at what's happened to the Al Qaeda-Taliban-Karzai government-Pakistan ISI cash cow of the Afghan poppy crop. What's happened is indicated by this perversely hilarious headline in Sunday's (11/21) London Guardian, the bastion of British media Marxism: Heroin Shortage in UK is Putting Lives at Risk.... ...And you might surprised to learn that the HFR Hero of the Week is a 77 year-old rancher in Mexico.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL 57 STATES
My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate - from the FBI's 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel's. And let's face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don't know what the term is in Austrian for that...
THANKSGIVING’S BLESSING OF CAPITALIST FREEDOM
On Thanksgiving Day, Americans gather with their family and friends to celebrate the blessings that Providence has bestowed on their beloved country. A deep appreciation of these blessings involves understanding that they were earned. It is to understand the awesome truth of how "God helps those who help themselves" applies to the Mayflower Pilgrims and their First Thanksgiving at America's birth. This is an appreciation and understanding of which those on the Left are incapable - for it would mean celebrating the capitalist freedom that made that original Thanksgiving possible. This no liberal, no Democrat, no leftie can do. Thus they must distort history instead. The distortion starts in Kindergarten, with the childish make-believe of your kid's school play portraying the noble Squanto teaching the helpless Pilgrims how to feed themselves. So let's drop the curtain on the distortion and watch the real thing. Here it is.