IRS Agent Cheats on his Taxes

Does this mean that he's involved with the Obama administration? Har! Why am I not surprised by this one.

Milton Friedman - Government Regulation

Even in his 90's, Friedman was still a force.

HT: Liberty Pen

Union Members vs. The Union

You won't see this on CNN or Keith "fathead" Olberman's show. Oh, the irony when union members picket their own union for unfair practices.

GM: Government Motors

The move to oust GM CEO Rick Wagoner by the Obama administration is yet another masterful stroke towards economic populism; the federal government will now apply copious political pressure to corporations and companies that bristled happily when it came time to accept bailout funds--har! har! har!--little did they know that were essentially making the federal government their hard taskmaster and overseer. The lesson is clear: Don't take tax dollars from the government. They will bend and twist your company to satisfy its political ends while making a public hanging of you and your management. Score one for Team Obama since this whole sorry episode is a clever cover for the White House to dump more public funds to the automakers with little public resistance or scrutiny. After all, getting rid of a bad CEO (aren't they all unpopular now?) in a very public manner appeases populist sentiment against the bailouts for a time.

I will repeat my call for no bailouts for auto companies: Let them go chapter 11. We could have avoided this whole mess if they were simply allowed to go bankrupt months ago.

More Bailouts Please!!

Since we have lost our minds bailing out every industry with enough pull in Washington to garner attention, let's continue with the bailouts! The newspaper industry needs a bailout because papers are going under fast. We really need to save them, right? Then there is the auto suppliers; they are a sick industry with lot's of union workers--we must bail them out because as Lo Dobbs always points out, we need more American manufacturing. Whoopee! And then there is the commercial real estate industry. Boy, those guys are hurting. We need to bail them out too. Too much credit card debt? Bailout. Bought too much car? Bailout. Your idea to sell rain suits on a sunny day cause you to go bust? bailout.

Watch as our government picks winners and losers according to how connected they are to a dear interest group or lobbying firm. Sweeet! Everybody move along. Everything is perfectly fine. The bailouts will help; it is times like these that government can give a "leg up" to the distraught and ailing. And besides, think of all the Green Jobs coming down the pike. We are so lucky.

Neighborhood Car Dealers Faltering

Perhaps Congress needs to work on a bailout package for car dealers. Why not?

Government Intervention, Regulatory Policy, and the Financial Crisis

When you hear the populist pabulum that deregulation was the prime cause of our financial crisis, take a pause and note that it is in a politician’s best interest to regulate industries because it places power and influence in his or her grasp. The opportunity for power coupled with a public outcry to "do something" is too great to resist.

Also, have you noticed that all the banks that have over-leveraged themselves are also the most highly regulated?

The Stimulus Plan---OUCH!

Brothers At War

Tasha's Take and The Bobo Files brought this movie to my attention: Brothers At Arms. A civilian embeds himself in a platoon serving in Iraq. Except that this civilian is a soldiers brother. Check the trailer out when you can.

Glenn Beck: On The Coming Inflation Crunch

Since the Fed has decided to devalue our dollar by printing money, look to a run on commodities like oil, gold, and copper. The coming inflation will crush the middle class and this country will be in a economic malaise for years.

HT: Liberty Pen

Chris Dodd Lied!! What a Surprise!!

He who is the defender of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he who has been the recipient of favors from Countrywide; Yes-siree! For years Mr. Dodd has pulled a fast one on the American taxpayer, running interference for Fran and Fred as both institutions made risky bets on mortgages that were made to people that could hardly make the mortgage. Mr. Dodd successfully deflected any real criticism of the mortgage giants while the populace reveled in the collective heat of Bush hatred and as it fell under the spell of silver tongued Barack Obama.

Does it stop there? No! Mr. Dodd took it upon himself to insert the loophole that allowed bonuses to AIG executives. When he was first asked by CNN whether he had inserted the loophole—Dodd said NO! Later he recanted on CNN! I swear that you could not make this stuff up! Incredible!

BTW, Dodd's darlings--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are going to give out fat bonuses too. Hee..heee!

Update: Chris Dodd blames Obama administration for bonus amendment. I bet that the White House knew of the loophole; This means that when Obama tells us that he's "upset" about the bonuses to AIG employees he is basically lying and faking it--the man signed the stimulus package. And since we are constantly told that he is so "smart" he knew what was in the package. Democrats are running around feigning anger since they have realized that they rushed the package through and defended not having read through it; Americans are falling for this whole scam hook, line, and sinker.

The Fed Wants To Print More Money!

Can you say INFLATION? I have visions of the inflationary period during the 1970’s with double digit inflation. Remember those days? It won’t be pretty or fun. Ah, Jimmy Carter here we come! Does anyone want to make the case that the Fed is an independent institution that is not influenced by politics?

Sweden Chooses Voucher Program for Its Schools

The highly socialized nation of Sweden entrusts Milton Friedman’s idea of the voucher system. And guess what? It works.

Say it ain't so Obama!

AIG contributed $101,332.00 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. What's Obama going to do now? Give the money back? So much for credibilty.

Mexico to raise tariffs on U.S. exports

Let the trade wars begin! Thank you Obama!

John Stossel slams Bailouts and Other Government Programs!

John Stossel blows holes in all of the banter and tripe regarding bailouts. Democrats and big government supporters that back the bailouts will not like this video series. This is part one of six videos. Click here for the rest of the videos.

Ask yourself this: would you trust Maxine Waters with your hard earned money?

So, Obama is Outraged, eh?

The whole ruckus concerning AIG bonuses to employees could have been avoided completely if the federal government would have taken some Hayekian knowledge (I know, utterly impossible) and not dumped billions of taxpayer dollars into AIG in the first place. I posted the folly of using taxpayer funds to prop up failing private institutions here, here and here. But whether its the auto companies, investment banks or insurance companies, executives of these corporations are learning the hard way (this is not a bad thing) that receiving funds from the federal government doesn't come without strings attached; politicians will use every possible political angle to make themselves while publically whipping the corporations that they are attempting to "save" in the first place. Simply, the government should never have offered to "save" AIG and AIG should have done the noble deed and filed for bankruptcy. But nooooo..."they're too big too fail." The American public was told that if AIG fails, then a horrid domino effect will take the entire U.S. financial sector down with it--what a bunch of crap. Like the last two stimulus packages, Americans fell for it hook, line and sinker.

BTW, wouldn't it be just grand if we didn't have to be subjected to the bloated rhetoric of Austan Goolsbee.

Obamanomics

HT: Carpe Diem

Mmmmm...Beer!

American small breweries are another example of the free-market at work; it enables innovation, choice, and quality.

Unemployment Hits 8.1%

Anyone want to bet it goes higher? With Obama constantly threatening investors and the stock market in a funk, I doubt that the stimulus package is going to knock off more than 1-2% off the unemployment rate. If it does, the unemployment rate will be in the double digits and any positive effects of the stimulus will go largely unnoticed.

Dan Mitchell Slams Obama Budget Plan

When they figure out that they can't pay for all of their bloated programs by taxing "the rich," the middle class tax payer is next in line. You should get ready for it.

Obama's Shock Doctrine

Cato Daily Podcast

"You never want a serious crisis go to waste."----Rahm Emanuel

Where is Naomi Klein hiding these days?

More Taxpayer Funds Down The Drain

Here we go again. For crying out loud! Does anybody really believe that this is going to work? This is all like a bad dream.

Mankiw vs. Krugman

Speaking of Greg Mankiw, it looks like Mankiw has thrown down the gauntlet: He wants to make a wager with liberal economist Paul Krugman on just how much the economy will grow (or how not) under the auspices of Obama's economic plan. Liberals love to back up their economic arguments with Krugman's critique of free-market capitalism; they figure that his recent Nobel Prize lends plenty of weight to their economic policies. But I always point out that Krugman's Nobel Prize winning work was in international trade and not macro-economics: He's basically a Keynesian when it comes to macro-economics. And there is far too much empirical and historical evidence that shows that Keynesianism doesn't provide the robust growth that our country needs to maintain our standard of living. I would love for Krugman to take Mankiw's bet.

Obamanomics and the Dread of Inflation

Greg Mankiw posted the growth forecasts from the Obama administration (in Red) and a competing forecast from a group of private economists (in Blue). It should be no surprise that the Obama administration forecasts are far more optimistic that the "Blue Chip" private forecasters; administrations are notorious for forecasting rosy scenarios when their economic plans are concerned; politics is a strong influence and the Obama regime is no different than other administrations before it.

2009: -1.2% -1.9%
2010: +3.2% +2.1%
2011: +4.0% +2.9%
2012: +4.6% +2.9%
2013: +4.2% +2.8%

Needless to say, I agree with the sober forecast of the private economists. If and when the economy does have some growth, it will be slight and hardly robust due to the massive spending in the public sector. In my opinion, the biggest threat to the economy will be high inflation once there is a return of confidence and some GDP growth. The M2 money supply has been growing at a pace that has never been seen before--the printing presses are working hard printing money in order to pay for all of the bailouts and for Obama's kooky stimulus scheme. This will not end well.