William A. Niskanen rolls up the U.S. Constitution and smacks Barack Obama’s nose a few times in this article on the CATO blog. It’s an excellent and short read.
President Obama is intelligent and charming –- but not wise. The Constitution only authorizes the president to be the chief executive of the federal government and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, ample challenges to the most skilled person, but the president is not the sole leader of the federal government, the American nation, or the free world. Based on his inaugural address, President Obama has no apparent sense of the limits of what he can and should do –- and that will reduce his effectiveness in addressing those issues within his clear authority.
The bleeding is not going to stop anytime soon. This is from CNN Money regarding the beginning of the week’s horrid news on the jobs front.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.
At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.
More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.
“It’s all about the consumer, and the consumer’s been hit hard,” said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. “It’s a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness.”
These are the times that try free market souls. Ron Paul has been warning us of the collapse that is unfolding before our eyes. Day after day the economic news is bad. We are living in a speck of history that will be known to future generations as “The Bailout Age”.
It’s not supposed to be like this, we say. America was built on the fear of failure not the removal of it from our consciousness. When you fail you learn. When you reward failure you lose. We aren’t just losing. We are getting our asses handed to us. However, this is a kinder and gentler version of losing. The government is here to help you softly toward your demise. Embrace ignorance, it is your salvation.
Quote of the Day: “The Greeks…labored under the delusion that their democracy was a guarantee of peace and plenty, not realizing that unrestrained majority rule always destroys freedom, puts the minority at the mercy of the mob, and works at cross-purposes to the effective use of human energy and individual initiative.” — Henry Grady Weaver, “The Mainspring of Human Progress”
Subject: Using the taxes you pay to bribe members of Congress
It’s a crime for citizens to bribe members of Congress. But it’s perfectly legal for members of Congress to use your tax money to bribe each other. It’s called logrolling. One Congressperson says to another, “I’ll vote for your spending bill if you’ll vote for mine.”
What else could this be called, but an attempt to use tax money to buy a legislative outcome? In a word, a bribe.
Could we have a law to make this kind of bribery illegal, to be punished by jail-time, fines, and expulsion from office?
It’s an exciting idea. If we could figure out how to do it, we might. But unlike the political class we’re humble in our ambitions to engineer human behavior. We know that the actions of individuals, especially politicians, are far more slippery than any grand design for regulation can easily comprehend.
A law prohibiting tax bribery would probably be too easy to evade, and too hard to enforce. Besides . . .
Following the recent Obama-sanctioned continued bombing of Pakistan, picking up right where George W. Bush left off, we get some critical words from Ron Paul in his latest video.
There’s no gray area with Ron Paul, you are either an interventionist or a non-interventionist. Barack Obama continues the Bush doctrine of preemptive war. As usual Ron Paul is quick to point out the folly of intervention.
In fact, Ron Paul’s political views can be summed up with the following:
“The federal government should leave us alone, leave private businesses alone, and leave other countries alone.”
Or perhaps better still would be: “Don’t meddle!”
I’m still waiting for the outrage from the Obamacons. I will have to wait for a long time from the looks of it, but the backlash will come. In the meantime we have to put up with gag-inducing videos like this one from some of our favorite actors.
For a much better, down to earth, and honest video watch the one from Ron Paul below.
Well that didn’t take long. Murderer-in-Chief number two, step right up! Here is Jake’s take on Obama’s first of likely many “efforts” to “combat” terrorism. And someone tried to argue with me that Obama’s foreign policy will be different. Yeah right. – Marc
——————-
“We must make it clear that if Pakistan cannot or will not act, we will take out high-level terrorist targets like bin Laden if we have them in our sights.” – Barack Obama, July 2008. by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Originally published January 24, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article5876.html
ZHARKI, PAKISTAN – Barack Obama bloodied his hands for the first time as America’s Commander-in-Chief, ordering the destruction of several homes in a small village in Pakistan. At least 18 were killed and two homes destroyed by unmanned Predator drones per the UK Guardian. CNN reported on it in a 2-minute video clip here. (quote from my.barackobama.com)
In his first Executive Orders, Obama restores habeas corpus and declares the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay within a year.
by Jake, the Champion of the Constitution Originally published Friday, January 23, 2009 at http://www.nolanchart.com/article5862.html
Barack Obama has taken one “Change” that I approve of; I can only “Hope” for many more. Yesterday he ordered the shutdown of Guantanamo Bay within a year. OK, it could be done a little faster, but Constitutional and humanitarian beggars can’t be choosers. He also passed another executive order to “ensure lawful detentions” do not occur with the use of torture. He also ordered a review of detention policies. Here is an excerpt from the Guantanamo order:
Ron Paul spoke on the House floor yesterday afternoon. He attempted to educate his peers on the dangers of fiat currencies… I wonder if any of them learned anything.
Once again he states that living beyond our means just means we will eventually have to live beneath our means. I suspect everyone, even Paul Krugman, will learn this lesson in the next several years.
His words include much to like but probably my favorite quote is his attack on gold price manipulation:
“Pretending the dollar is maintaining real value by manipulating the price of gold, the historic mechanism for measuring a currency’s value will work no better than the effort of the 1960’s at keeping gold at $35 an ounce. Nevertheless, Bretton Woods failed in 1971 as was predicted by the free market economists despite these efforts.”
Quote of the Day: “The holier-than-thou activists who blame the population for not spending more money on their personal crusades are worse than aggravating. They encourage the repudiation of personal responsibility by spreading the lie that support of a government program fulfills individual moral duty.” – Patrick Cox
Subject: The evidence is in — the stimulus package won’t work
* Less than $4 billion would enter the economy before 2010
* And less than $15 billion would be spent before 2013
If past recessions are any guide an economic recovery could begin, naturally, by the end of this year. This means that most of the spending proposed in the so-called stimulus package will come too late to serve its supposed purpose.
* Only 7% will be spent by the end of the current budget year
* Only one out of every seven dollars intended for energy projects will be spent in the next year and a half
* Only a quarter of the proposed clean water projects can be completed by October of next year
* Projects to provide broadband Internet to rural areas can’t begin for years
We can debate whether government spending really stimulates the economy. We don’t think it does. But now the debate is over whether the “stimulus” spending will come too late.
Congress has received these findings from the Congressional Budget Office, so why are they still pushing the massive stimulus package. They’re doing what politicians do . . .
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