Obama gets real questions and gets testy while he dodges. He’s multitasking!
It’s like he has no experience dealing with journalist. (He doesn’t)
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Obama Administration on March 17th, 2010
Share on FacebookPresident Obama has picked Villanova for the final four.
Remember the Chicago bid for the Olympics. Down in flames.
Remember Obamas last minute trip to Coppenhagen to get a climate control deal. Again…Down in flames.
Remember Obamas support of John Corzinne? Lost that one.
Remember Obamas support for whats her name…you know..the one that lost to Scott Brown. Yea. That didnt work out well either.
Im sorry, guys. I was hoping a Philly team would do well this year.
UPDATE: Villanova has lost in the second round. Obamas steak continues!
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Obama Administration,predictions on March 17th, 2010
In the past, Progressives have used hard times to push for there laws that “fundamentally transform America“. According to the Seattle Times, that’s so twentieth century. Their advice to Barack Obama (whom the “enthusiatically endorsed”) is to push for punishing progressive ideals when businesses are strong. Here’s the quote:
But the longer the fight goes on, the more it feels that the timing is all wrong. The economy is wounded. Employers are hurting. The time to think about loading employers with new burdens is when they are strong. Not now..
I guess the logic goes…people and small businesses are paying attention now. If you are going to make progress toward socialized medicine, it is better to do it when people are too busy to protest.
Is it just me or should we not “burden” employers anytime. If it is a good idea when only when times are good, what happens when the economic cycles changes? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Common Sense,Health Care on March 16th, 2010
PolitiZoid – Obamafeld
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Health Care,video on March 16th, 2010
I know too many people who use the payroll tax deduction as a savings plan. It’s truly amazing that people send too much money to the government so that they can get a big refund check. Personally, I pay them just enough to avoid penalties. Here’s why.
States may hold onto tax refunds for months
New York, hit with a $9 billion deficit, may delay $500 million in refunds to keep the state from running out of cash, says Gov. David Paterson.
New York is not the only state. The down economy has most states in the red. Remember, you didn’t enter into a contract with the government about when you would get your refund. There is no recourse. You will be denied money you earned until the government gets their act in shape. You could be waiting a long time.
It is also very illustrative of the mindset in our state capitals. In their eyes, money spent on government programs stimulated the economy, but money withheld from those who earned will have no effect.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Taxes on March 12th, 2010
The left believes that a strong government can right the wrongs created by capitalism. The focus of their rhetoric is redistribution of wealth from the greedy to the needy. The left wing Utopia only exists in their minds though.
China has a strong central government. It certainly has the power to redistribute. With such power, they must be able to assure that everyone has the basics services they need. Even though China is still developing economically, they have had many decades under communist rule…so fairness and equity must be assured, right?
Wrong!
In Beijing alone, according to work carried out at the Beijing Institute of Technology, about half the 460,000 children born over the past threeyears cannot be registered as official residents. China has tens of millions of people living in legal limbo. Designated as rural-dwellers – though they may spend most or all of their time working in the cities – they are denied access to social services, including subsidised housing, income support and education for their children. Yasheng Huang, a China expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says the system is “inhumane” and economically damaging.
I guess the law of unintended consequences is alive and well in China.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Economics on March 11th, 2010
The Obama administration says that if we didn’t pass the stimulus last year, things would be worse. Geez. That same old song politicians have been singing for centuries when things are bad. So much for change. But at least we have hope…well
The government ran up the largest monthly deficit in history in February, keeping the flood of red ink on track to top last year’s record for the full year.
I hope the huge deficit doesn’t act like an anchor to the economy for the next 20 years.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Economics on March 11th, 2010
Big government is dysfunctional because decisions are made with political calculations. Re-election is the end game. The free market works much better because decisions are made based on profit…and great profit can only be made by supplying what consumers demand. This is not to say all government is bad and the market is all good. Life is not that simple, but today we are learning about the decision making process in our bloated government when it comes to “green jobs”.
From PajamasMedia
emails show that the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coordinated their response to a damning Spanish report on “green jobs” with wind industry lobbyists and the Center for American Progress (the progressive think tank founded by John Podesta and funded by George Soros).The report from Spain’s Universidad Rey Juan Carlos — which was the subject of a George Will column in the Washington Post on June 25, 2009 — showed each “green job” that had been added by Spain’s aggressive wind energy program cost Spain nearly $800,000 and resulted in the loss of 2.2 jobs elsewhere in the economy.
Eight times, Obama had publicly referred to Spain’s program as being a model for a U.S. wind energy program.
What we have here is a campaign promise to the left and a government that actively seeks to hide contrary evidence for political reasons. The whole global warming hoax is falling apart. “Green jobs” are not the answers to our employment prayers. Governments in Europe have an abysmal record trying to manage and regulate markets in an effective way. With all the contrary evidence pointing away from democratic socialism, Barack Obama hides the truth and pushes ahead anyway. Why? Because politics rule the day instead of the market.
The American people are waking up. Is the President and all his men?
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Economics on March 10th, 2010
Free market supporters believe that unemployment benefits extend unemployment. The logic is that many will sit back and wait for the perfect job while you are collecting benefits than to accept a lower paying job. Unfortunately, accepting welfare is not longer shameful.
As Michelle Malkin points out, conservatives are attacked for being heartless when the voice their logical conclusions, yet the left ties themselves into knots when trying to explain any fallacy in that logic. It comes down to the same old thing…the hell with logic, evidence and history. The left “feels” that unemployment benefits help people and therefore they support them.
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Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Free Markets on March 10th, 2010
My latest word cloud from Wordle
Check out the Presidential Innaugural Word Clouds (link). Come back and leave a comment about what you think
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Uncategorized on March 9th, 2010
Ed Rendell can’t even imagine a world without tax hikes. The first thing he did when he became governor was raise taxes. Now that he is about to leave, he says the next governor (Tom Corbett) needs to have his head examined if he doesn’t raise taxes. If raising taxes was the cure to deficits, shouldn’t we have less debt now then when Fast Eddy made the move to Harrisburg.
The key to cutting deficit is cutting spending. This concept is inconceivable to a tax and spend liberal.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in PA Politics on March 8th, 2010
When people are given welfare, they get used to it and then they feel entitled to it. Greece is experiencing riots being instigated by unions because of proposed cuts. The country is in deep trouble. Those who have been paid more than they produce have been accustom to their live styles and they aren’t about to give up their perks (other people’s money) without a fight.
But that is in Europe…far, far away. We have nothing to worry about, right?
Wrong.
It is happening here too. California is in trouble. They have a massive debt caused by overspending. They want to cut back on spending and one proposal calls for higher tuition. In response, the students are rioting. They too have become accustom to the perk (other people’s money) of low cost college.
This is just another example of why the free market is better than government control. Free markets adjust to changes in supply and demand. Price changes due to decisions of millions of people. Who’s there to get mad at? Who do you complain to?
When government controls the market and the price, it is easy to figure out. You put pressure on the board of “experts” who raised the price. You can save yourself money by persuading them with emotional pleas, political clout and eventually violence. Government can respond by caving and switching to another cost savings target (one that is less vocal and less violent), or they can start “cracking down”. Either response is bad.
We should have been wise enough to avoid this in the first place. We should have learned from the Founding Fathers who showed us how to be free and prosperous. As Ronal Reagn said, Government is no the solution. Government is the problem.
Update: The entitlement plague has spread to Wisconsin (H/T Michelle Malkin)
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Free Markets on March 4th, 2010
If you are a young teacher, I hope you realize that your future is being spent on pensions now.
School districts will soon reach a breaking point. Pensions are spiraling out of control and tax payers are putting on the breaks. Your union leaders have pushed for more lucrative pensions for years. They assumed lavish benefits came from and endless supply of tax dollars. They were wrong and young teachers will soon pay the price.
It doesn’t take a private school education to figure out there is a problem when pensions and health coverage increase in cost by 10 to 20 percent every year, but tax increases are limited to 4% per year. We are just about at that breaking point now. Emotional appeals and phony rhetoric won’t solve the problem. With the backing of the tax payers, expect to see school boards getting tougher. When they do, their only latitude will be to cut back on new teachers.
This is exactly what has happened in Europe. Those with jobs are secure. Those without are screwed.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Labor and Unions on March 3rd, 2010
- Tim Geitner that tax cheat is running the treasury
- Charlie Rangel is reluctantly stepping down from his powerful position over many ethical lapses
- Eliot Spitzer – Client #9
- Rod Blagojevich tried to sell a senate seat
- The Louisiana Purchase
- The Cornhusker kickback
But when the Republican were thrown out of Washington, there was a sex scandal…and now there is one for the Democrats:
According to several House aides on both sides of the aisle, the House ethics committee has been informed of allegations that Massa, who is married with two children, sexually harassed a male staffer.
The Republicans were thrown out for scandals and over spending so the Democrats came in with arguably worse scandals and unarguably extreme over spending. Can people in Washington that out of touch or are they just plain stupid?
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in corruption on March 3rd, 2010
President Obama knew reconciliation was a bad idea…right up until his progressive dreams were shattered by the American public.
Notice: Obama calls his supporters “fellow Progressives”. Progressives were in vogue one time. When the American people cut through the bull, they were horrified. So progressives relabeled themselves and hi-jacked the name liberals (which used to mean some else entirely). Then Americans figured out what liberals really wanted and were horrified. So the people who claim they are for change are now changing back to their original label “progressives”…which simply means they want to progress slowly toward total state control.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in Health Care,video on March 3rd, 2010