How Dangerous are Liberals and Progressives?

Consider the following and answer the question yourself:

• The Constitution is a “charter of negative liberties” , it does not tell what the government should do for the people. Barack Obama
  
   NO SHIT MR. PRESIDENT! THE CONSTITUTION WAS WRITTEN TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT.
  
• “Whenever Congress refuses to act, Joe and I, we’re going to act” Barack Obama

• Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), admits that she and other Obamacare supporters are "not looking at the Constitution" when it comes to the law's individual mandate for healthcare. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb-staff/2012/02/28/open-thread-we-dont-look-constitution#ixzz1nhncXR9r. 

• Democrat Governor of North Carolina, Beverly Perdue – "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that," Perdue said. "You want people who don't worry about the next election."
  
  Post Script: Since uttering this nonsense, she has decided not to run for reelection. 

• Obama’s makes "recess appointments" while Congress is NOT IN RECESS. 

• Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to prosecute slam dunk voter intimidation case against Philadelphia Black Panthers because . . . could it have something to do with the color of the offenders' skin? 

• Nancy Pelosi regarding the passage of Obamacare against the will of the people: “We’ll go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, we’ll go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in,” she said. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.” As you may recall, they did just that bribing Senators with exemptions for their states and using Reconciliation to secure final passage.

Obama the Brilliant

I am just trying to get my arms around Obama's plan to lower gas prices. Let's see if I've got this straight:

Step #1 - Limit domestic oil production via Gulf of Mexico drilling moratorium.

Step #2 - Severely limit oil drilling on federal lands.

Step #3 – Kill the Keystone XL pipeline.

Step #4 - Increase the average time it takes for a drilling permit to be approved to 91 days.

Step #5 - Decrease the approval rate of drilling permits by 50%. Under Bush the approval rate was 73%. Under Obama, it's 23%.

Step #6 - Steal from Social Security and give wage earners $40 dollar per paycheck to pay for higher gas prices.

Step #7 – Smile and wait for adulation.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/211765-obama-payroll-tax-cut-extension-will-help-with-higher-gas-prices

The Truth About Unemployment

The unemployment rate in the United States is NOT 8.3% as the Obama Administration is touting. The government reports "seasonally adjusted" numbers each month, which is code for "manipulated".

The numbers are manipulated because the shrinking workforce is not properly factored into the unemployment rate. The workforce has shrunk by some six million jobs since 2007!

Below is some simple math to explain how the numbers are manipulated:

• If there are 100 jobs and 80 are filled, you have a 20% unemployment rate. 
• If there are only 90 jobs and the same 80 are filled, you have an 11% unemployment rate. 

Sadistically, a shrinking workforce benefits whoever is in the White House.

Here are some more facts about unemployment that you should be aware of:

• The United States is experiencing the longest stretch of high unemployment since The Great Depression  
• The official unemployment rate excludes people who want to work but have not searched for a job in the past four weeks. It also excludes those who are working part-time but would prefer full-time work. If both of these populations were counted, the unemployment rate in January would have been about 15%.  
• U6 versus U3 employment numbers: When you see the unemployment number reported, dig deeper and understand the difference between the U3 number widely reported by the media and the U6 number (explained in the previous bullet point).
• The share of unemployed people looking for work for more than six months — the long-term unemployed—topped 40% in December 2009 for the first time since 1948.
• Don't let anyone tell you that the jobs environment is improving while, at the same time, we have perpetual weekly initial claims for unemployment benefits at 380,000+.

Teachable Moment - College Tuition Hikes

I just read an article about the college tuition rate increases at North Carolina state schools; an average of 8.8% across all the schools in the system. I found this story to be a teachable moment.

#1 Teachable Moment:
Many of the student protesters were angry because they have to pay anything toward their education as there is a provision in the North Carolina constitution calling for free higher education "as far as practicable".

• Attention naive college students! NOTHING IS FREE! North Carolina tax payers PAY for your FREE higher education, which is already heavily subsidized by the state. 
• If market forces were able to play out in the arena of higher education, I guarantee you that tuition rates would not have risen well over 40% since 2000.
• The result is more borrowing by students. Student loan debt has increased by 511% since 1999. Do you really think a four-year degree is worth $80,000 - $120,000? $60,000? $50,000? At what point does it seem like a good investment of time, effort and money. You could buy into hundreds of franchise businesses for that kind of investment. You could travel the world (in luxury) for that kind of money. You could start your own non-profit or for-profit business for that kind of money.

#2 Teachable Moment
The problem is the intervention of the federal government into the education sector by way of Pell grants, student loans and subsidies. There is no incentive on the part of the institutions to manage their expenses when their customer (the federal government) continues to pump more and more money into the system. The result is the average student who receives a four-year degree leaves college after five years with tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt. Payments begin six months after graduation. 

The only lesson learned by our college educated students is how to incur debt in massive amounts.

Even Vice President Joe Biden, no stranger to big government, admits that government intervention via subsidies and loans contributed to the incessant increases in college tuition rates by preventing free market mechanisms to go to work. 

Government subsidies have impacted upon rising tuition costs. It’s a conundrum here. But if we went the rate your view of the free market route what we would have done is we would have not of done that. We would not have increased Pell grants, for example. And there would be 9 million fewer students in college today. 

And there would be hundreds of thousands and millions of students who would not be in college who don’t get Pell grants because there was no ability for them to borrow money through Perkins loans and/or have the tax deduction.”

He went on to admit that, in a pure free market, college tuition would have to be lower because there would be fewer people going to school. 

First of all, what is wrong with fewer people going to four year colleges? Why can't more people go to a trade school, community college or go out and get a job? 

Secondly, in typical liberal economic logic, Biden assume fewer people would attend because the government is NOT involved. My observation has been that everything the government touches turns to crap (see two previous blog posts 100% Failure Rate - Part I and Part II). I would argue that, if the institutions became more responsive to their customers - THE STUDENTS, instead of their current customer - THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, prices would decrease making college more accessible, less expensive and, therefore, MORE (not less) students would attend.


#3 Teachable Moment
UNC Board of Governor's chairwoman Hannah Gage said, "we must show the taxpayers of North Carolina, and the legislature, that every penny that's invested the University of North Carolina is wisely spent". To do that she recommends: 1) Achieving operational and academic efficiencies, 2) Using technology more effectively and 3) Devising a strategy for financial aid.

NO MENTION OF DEALING WITH THE FAT PENSIONS OF THE PROFESSORS AND STATE WORKERS. NO MENTION OF GETTING RID OF UNPRODUCTIVE TENURED PROFESSORS SUCKING ON THE PUBLIC TEAT FOR DECADES. Like all good bureaucrats, Ms. Gage wants to devise financial aid strategies so students can continue to pay exorbitant prices for an inferior product. 

Class dismissed!

American Downfall

What happened to America? Two words: affluence and apathy.

Affluence

• As the most prosperous country in the world, we have countless millions of people in this country who, by world standards, are affluent. With affluence there tends to come a keep-to-yourself mentality when it comes to politics and elections.
• Result: DISENGAGED

Apathy

• Let's face it, Americans are apathetic when it comes to politics until their checkbook is impacted. We are busy raising our families and working to make ends meet. Who has time to pay attention to what's going on in Washington D.C. or Raleigh or Trenton or Austin or Sacramento.
• Result: DISENGAGED.

The bottom line is the affluent and apathetic outnumber the engaged and conscientious.

That's how you get a President Obama despite the fact that his stated goal was to "fundamentally transform" the greatest country in the history of the world and "spread the wealth around".

That's how you get approval ratings for President Obama in the mid-40% despite the fact that we have the worst recovery since The Great Depression, record unemployment, record deficits, crony capitalism of biblical proportions, an out of control Justice Department, Obamacare shoved down our throats, a war on success and an all-out assault on capitalism.

Sad!

Reaganomics versus Obamanomics

• Reagan’s Recovery ushered in a 25-year economic boom. Obama's Economy ushered in "The New Normal" - perpetual 10% real unemployment, millions of underemployed, higher energy costs, lower incomes, record food stamp recipients, etc. 

• The poverty level fell from 15% to 11% under Reagan despite budget cuts to the programs. Under Obama, we are back to 15% in 2010 up from 14% in 2009.

• Reagan’s Recovery cut top tax rates. Obama plans to raise them by not renewing the Bush tax cuts.

• During the 12 years prior to Reagan, America created 1.3 million jobs per year. During Reagan years – 2 million per year. Under Obama, the workforce has shrunk by some 6 million jobs.

For those of you who want to bash Republican Presidents for their favorable treatment of "the rich", consider these facts spanning the presidencies of Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton and most of Bush 43:

• In 1979, the top 1% of income earners paid 18% of all federal taxes. By 2006, they were paying 39%.

• In 1979, the top 10% of income earners paid 48% of all federal taxes. By 2006, they were paying 73%. 

• In 1979, the top 40% of income earners paid 85% of all federal taxes. By 2006, they were paying 98%. 

• In 1979, the bottom 40% of income earners paid 4% of all federal taxes. By 2006, they were RECEIVING 3% in direct payments.