Would Someone Please Ask Ron Paul…

Are we convinced a Nuclear Iran does not assist in the development of a Nuclear Syria, or Turkey, or some other Middle-East nation? We are to believe that a Nuclear Iran, which has been moving conventional weapons to Hezbollah and others would never think of doing the same with other weapons?

Bernanke’s Bender

Bernanke sober- or so it seems(Note:This arrived in my mail box unattributed, but I have discovered that it is from The Onion.  I have edited any questionable language by replacing letters with asterisks.  This image is not associated with the article at The Onion.)
 
SEWARD, NE—Claiming he wasn’t afraid to let everyone in attendance know about "the real mess we’re in," Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke reportedly got drunk Tuesday and told everyone at Elwood’s Corner Tavern about how absolutely f****d the U.S. economy actually is.
 
Bernanke, who sources confirmed was "totally sloshed," arrived at the drinking establishment at approximately 5:30 p.m., ensconced himself upon a bar stool, and consumed several bottles of Miller High Life and a half-dozen shots of whiskey while loudly proclaiming to any patron who would listen that the economic outlook was "pretty goddamned awful if you want the God’s honest truth."
 
"Look, they don’t want anyone except for the Washington, D.C. bigwigs to know how bad shit really is," said Bernanke, slurring his words as he spoke. "Mounting debt exacerbated—and not relieved—by unchecked consumption, spiraling interest rates, and the grim realities of an inevitable worldwide energy crisis are projected to leave our entire economy in the sh****r for, like, a generation, man, I’m telling you."

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Progressive Trade Rules

Being beholden to unions causes you to say and do stupid things.  Take Carol Shea-Porter for example.  She was against a trade deal with Panama because she claimed it would cost American jobs, when it would actually open up trade from us to them–they already had unfettered access; result?–it would have created American jobs. Provisions … Read more

Destroying The Future Of America

Image Credit: Mattox Firearms school.comDemocrats continue to insist that they created jobs.  To do this they extracted trillions from our economic future in an effort to create jobs that did not yet exist–that perhaps were  not needed yet.  Looking at similar exercises, cash for clunkers–which moved car sales forward a few months but has since resulted in a collapse in the market; the home mortgage bail outs, supports, credits, and the "home affordable" programs which improved home sales briefly but which have since collapsed (also to historic lows); and then there’s the stimulus, several public sector employee bailouts, bank lending infusions, small business bills, and everything in between including health care reform–many trillions spent, all made with claims that they would create, save, or incentivize job creation.

Lets concede the possibility that some jobs were saved or created with money from the future.  Let’s also, for academic purposes,  concede the number of 1.4 million-3.3 million jobs saved or created ( quote from Paul Hodes campaign if that matters).  What happens now?  Even if we can agree to these figures the mathematical reality is that despite these efforts, and at great expense, we still lost more jobs than we saved or created.  Millions are still unemployed with hundreds of thousands more people working less, working shorter hours, or who have given up looking altogether just in the 12 months since someone declared the recession over.  We got a net sum loss with the price of admission, and that debt is now looming over our ability to sustain or improve the job picture moving forward because of the Faustian fiscal political calculation the democrats made in what now appears to be a series of vote getting scams gone horribly wrong.

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Hodespocrisy Flashback- Why I Call Him Paul “Sugar Daddy” Hodes

Photo Credit 'TopNews.in'A few months back I discovered that Paul Hodes had received a one time $10,000.00 donation from American Crystal Sugar (A major US Sugar conglomerate), at about the same time as the 288 billion dollar 2007/2008 Farm bill was being pushed through congress, and vetoes overrode.  US Sugar is a protected industry with a good amount of political influence.  American Crystal Sugar wanted to get into the ethanol industry but could not justify the up front costs.  Hodes and the farm billed solved that problem with your money. 

Here’s the original piece I wrote on the relationship.

 

 

THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010

Paul Hodes has a dirty little secret.  His ‘commitment’ to green energy has strings attached that lead directly to the sugar industry and a significant campaign cash “Thank You.” 

Back in 2007 and 2008 Congress waged an epic battle over the Farm Bill.  They didn’t call it the farm bill they called it the Food Nutrition and Bio-Energy Act.  What it was (or became) was a 288 billion dollar sop to the agriculture industry with a focus on approving billions into ethanol subsidies for the farm belt before the 2008 elections. 

To muddy up the real purpose the democrat majority in congress tossed in money for food stamps and school lunches so that any effort to kill it could be spun as evil Republicans starving the poor and denying underprivileged students a hot nutritious lunch.   When some republicans balked, the left jumped.  And when George Bush, who was still friendly to the idea of ethanol mandates, vetoed both the bill (HR 2419) and the supplement that added in some items left out of the original (HR 6124) the democrat majority House overturned both vetoes. (Both henceforth to be referred to simply as the “farm bill”) 

So Paul Hodes not only voted for the hand outs, he voted for them four times: twice to pass the original bills and twice to overturn the vetoes. Does that show commitment?  I think it does.

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What About Bob?

What About Bob?Congressional Candidate Bob Bestani is what you might call a well-connected ruling class insider.  He has spent years as part of the evil international banking community and he is proud of his work for the Asian Development Bank (ADB).  According to his Campaign site Bio

Until May of 2008, Bob served as the Director General of Private Sector Finance at the Asian Development Bank, a multilateral bank dedicated to alleviating poverty in Asia. In the six years in which he served in that capacity, ADB’s private sector financings and earnings grew by over 40 times their 2001 levels, while portfolio quality and earnings steadily improved. Working closely with most of the countries of Asia, the Private Sector Department grew from the smallest of ADB’s departments to the largest and most successful operating unit of the ADB. In March of 2008 the Bank’s Board adopted private sector financings as the leading priority of the ADB for the years ahead.

So what’s the big deal?  Bob worked at a major international bank that is dedicated to alleviating poverty?  Well it seems to me that if you are going to use alleviating poverty to advance your political credibility people deserve to know the potential downside of how that actually plays out in the real world.

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CSP Rewind – Foreign Trade

Heartless, Callous Train Wreck Picture
Carol’s Driving….

Carol Shea Porter (CSP) continues to demonstrate her inability to grasp even the most basic concepts of governance.  Back in May of 2009 she issued a press release promoting her signing on to a letter suggesting that the Panama Trade Promotion Agreement, (TPA) also called the Panama Free trade agreement (FTA), would in essence cost American Jobs. To Quote the congresswoman…

“”I don’t want to have to vote for unemployment benefits. I want to vote for jobs.””

And to quote from the body of the letter she signed on to…

“”This disconnect between the Panama FTA and the current needs to restore our economy will make any vote on this FTA difficult to justify. Indeed, it appears to be the opposite of the “change” theme Americans voted for in the last two elections.””

Unfortunately for Carol, the real disconnect is between what Big Labor Lobbying groups (her number one campaign donors) have told her change means, and the reality of the Panama TPA’s impact on trade and jobs in the US.  But if Carol wants to dip her big toe in the waters of the international trade pool with blinders on, let me be the first to show you how she’s all wet.

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