People who dismiss the unemployed and dependent as “parasites” fail to understand economics and parasitism. A successful parasite is one that is not recognized by its host, one that can make its host work for it without appearing as a burden. Such is the ruling class in a capitalist society. – Jason Read Associate Professor Read’s catchy word-bite is making the rounds of gullible Facebookers. | Read More »
Last week Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi writer was arrested for Tweeting his opinion that he and the Islamic prophet Mohammad were essentially equals; he faces execution. For Christians that have endured Piss Christ, and The Holy Virgin Mary, such comments seem fairly innocuous, but Ismah, the doctrine of Muhammad’s infallibility says otherwise. Still, execution remains a stretch. Kashgari fled for his life to Malasia, which | Read More »
Washington is a criminal enterprise, which is not news. Politicians regularly dole favors to their donors in the form of grants and loan guarantees (Solyndra), theft of private assets for bailouts (Chrysler), and mandates for the use of worthless commodities (corn ethanol). The corruption is endless and goes back to Byzantium; governments are always corrupt because men are corruptible. Due to its size, however, Washington | Read More »
Today Reuters reported on the EU’s attempt to create a “permanent bailout fund.” The US’s Dodd Frank law includes a $50 bln permanent bailout fund, but the Old Time Media’ facile coverage credulously quoted Pres. Obama’s State of The Union speech saying “No more bailouts.” Why does the OTM cover for Obama’s lies, but has no problem with straight reporting concerning Europe? The €500 bln | Read More »
Rep. Ron Paul is running stronger than any other libertarian GOP candidate ever, including his own several bids. Still, everyone, even he, knows that Paul will not become President. Paul’s various stump and post-election speeches never allude to his governance, only the message he and his liberty minded supporters are sending to the Washington establishment. Campaigning is hard work for a 76-year-old, so why does | Read More »
Last week Pres. Obama asked Congress to combine six federal agencies into a single cabinet level agency to oversee Commerce. His nominal reason is to bolster the economy by making it easier to do business in the US and making the Federal Government better able to promote business. Given Obama’s outright hate for business and free markets, a skeptic might wonder why. The answer is | Read More »
The Obama of 2008 is long gone. Pres. Obama is taking a page from FDR’s 1936 business bashing, class warfare reelection campaign, and getting rough. Obama has abandoned every appeal to independents and moderates in favor of shoring up his left-wing base. Clearly Obama is a professional politician, but the numbers just don’t seem to add up to a 2012 victory. Obama has provided worthwhile | Read More »
Tomorrow, the Iowa GOP caucuses will yield their punditry fodder. Despite Iowa’s hostility toward Gov. Romney’s East Coast big government, pro-abortion, and socialized medicine record, he may win narrowly. Combined with a decisive victory in New Hampshire, many analysts think an Iowa victory could lock in Romney for the nomination. Tactically, an early Romney lock makes sense – less wasted resources in primary battles, a | Read More »
The world has been spared another day’s company with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Even among his evil peers, Mr. Kim’s atrocities stand out. His despotism starved millions of Koreans to death while he developed a reputation as an epicurean. He literally stole Korean and Japanese babies from their parents to train them as spy moles for the communist regime. He sold nuclear weapons | Read More »
It is shopping season, and some do-gooders want to tell you how and where to spend your money. Go to a local coffee shop or book store and you might see a sign promoting ‘buy local first.’ The logic is simple – buy locally manufactured and sold products and more wealth will remain in your home town. Better, keep the money even closer – in | Read More »
Part of Pres. Obama’s latest stimulus package involves renewing a payroll tax holiday that was to expire at the end of 2011. Because FICA taxes are one of the few income taxes that most Americans actually pay, the extension is popular and will probably pass Congress in some form. Of course Social Security and Medicare, the programs funded by FICA taxes, are hopelessly insolvent, and | Read More »
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls, and may win the upcoming New Hampshire GOP Presidential Primary. Gingrich’s surge is sensible on some levels – he obliterates the GOP stereotype of an ill-spoken hick who backslaps his way to office; he would surely beat Pres. Obama in a debate; he is an idea man in a time when the old ideas seem | Read More »
Last week, NPR concluded its series on influential economic philosophers with the left’s favorite son, John Maynard Keynes. Unsurprisingly, it was a fawning piece filled with left-wing Democrats voicing praise and allegiance. More interestingly, the piece flatly admitted that Pres. Obama’s policies are Keynesian – most left-wing pundits have declined to tie Obama’s philosophies with the largely discredited Keynes. Politicians and their backers shy away | Read More »
We’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. – Pres. Obama Pres. Obama was talking about his government’s laziness in attracting foreign investment (hint Mr. President: less government efforts actually attract investment, not more), but he may as well have been talking about the US in general since he took office. Of course Americans are far from lazy, they | Read More »
Last week Andy Rooney passed away after living a full, if curmudgeonly life. Rooney was, of course, famous for his monologues that concluded CBS’s weekly program 60 Minutes. Many people tolerated the boredom of the main program just to hear what triviality would set off Rooney. Rooney was the cranky neighbor, except viewers got him in manageable doses. Unfortunately, 60 Minutes and its producers represented | Read More »
On November 1, Colorado voters faced a handful of off-year ballot issues, including a ‘tax the rich’ measure and a pro-union measure local to Denver. While the local media worked overtime to spin the issues as not being a referendum on Pres. Obama’s policies, the measures seemed custom designed to let the President know where Coloradans stand on his agenda. The fact that these measures, | Read More »
While many consumers reasonably assume that government regulators protect and work for their interests, the reality of today’s regulatory regime is far more complicated and sometimes corrupt. All too often, the relationship between regulators and industry is too cozy, and government regulation becomes a crutch for political insiders and a barrier to competition. Sadly, the one party not at the regulatory banquet is the consumer. | Read More »
So, the President orders a war on a sovereign nation that has not recently attacked its neighbors or the US. He fails to consult Congress as is required by the US Constitution, and he blatantly lies about the war’s scope and purpose. Once the tyrannical regime is toppled, the President ‘spikes the ball’ in celebration – mission accomplished. He has won the war, but has | Read More »
The delightfully salacious political news lately has been the ‘Occupy’ movements around the world. Shout Bits has visited the Denver, CO rallies and can confirm one part of the Old Time Media reports – yes, they smell brutally offensive with BO. But the OTM is willfully ignoring another obvious fact – these protesters are of the same cloth as the communists that sought to revolutionize | Read More »
This week Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. As a household name, people naturally mourned the man most had never met. Like his historical comparison, Thomas Edison, Jobs was a brash provocateur, did little of the hands-on inventing in his shop, enjoyed a non-conventional libation, and he oversaw monumental failures. Jobs’s sometimes nemesis, Bill Gates, has many of the | Read More »
Herman Cain is an African American who made a small fortune delivering bastardized Italian food to WASPy college stoners – America in a nutshell. His presence in Washington would double the swamp’s allocation of common sense, yet his latest proposal looks pretty foolish. Mr. Cain, please see the light and step back from your 9x9x9 tax proposal. Mr. Cain, a long time Fair Tax proponent, | Read More »
The only explanation for our prolonged detention is the 32 years of mutual hostility between America and Iran. The irony is that Sarah, Josh and I oppose U.S. policies towards Iran which perpetuate this hostility. –Shane Bauer The media like to inject a narrative into the description of public figures. Rodney King was a “motorist,” not a violent drug abuser. Louise Woodward was an “au-pair,” | Read More »
As Shout Bits has mentioned before, billionaires like Warren Buffett perennially entreat Washington to raise their taxes. The fallacy of the ultra-rich’s argument is that the US does not tax most forms of wealth apart from real estate. A ‘Buffett rule,’ as Pres. Obama calls it, is just a higher income tax bracket. For those who have already achieved great wealth, that is a small | Read More »
Princeton Professor Paul Krugman’s ugly New York Times blog on the post 9/11 environment stopped short of accusing Pres. Bush of masterminding the attacks, but it did accuse Bush and his associates of cashing in on the tragedy, of being “fake heroes.” If nothing else, the timing was hateful – the very week when the former President was called on to emerge from relative obscurity | Read More »
Last week, Gibson Guitar made the news as armed agents of the Department of Fish and Wildlife raided its factories in Tennessee. The gist of the federal complaint is that Gibson may have violated the laws of Madagascar and India by importing only partially finished guitar components and then further processing the materials with US labor. The ‘may’ qualifier refers to the fact that the | Read More »
![[RS]](/t/img/logo-footer.jpg){kind=logo}