We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
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| Courtesy of Rolling Stone |
Some accompanying musical inspiration:
TARP 2.0: Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain...
It's so easy to succumb to the irresistible pull of Obama Derangement Syndrome; I've fended off the crackpot stuff like Obama's connection to Bill Ayers, the birth certificate, his purported socialism, the allegation that he is Muslim, etc., but it's Obama's indisputable, demonstrable lack of civility and class that really annoys me. Take this gem after signing the unconscionable TARP 2.0: Small Business Edition:
I regret that this was blocked for months by the Republican minority. And that needlessly delayed this relief.Yes, this is the long-awaited domestic political sequel to last year's sell-out international Obama Apology Tour. Now personally, I don't care about the President's contemptible, unprofessional, boorish behavior (other than the fact that he is setting a bad example for our nation's young people). The non-stop Bush-bashing, scapegoating, straw men arguments, and finger-pointing are in stark contrast to Obama's genteel predecessor, George W. Bush, whom shrugged off incessant crass personal attacks with good cheer. Who does Obama think he's fooling with his perpetual political spin and campaign mode? This country has been over-saturated with Obama (he never learned the life lesson that "less is more"). I find myself increasingly impatient.
Does Obama have a clue as to how people respond to his petty behavior? Even football players are taught not to engage in unsportsmanlike behavior after scoring a touchdown or winning a game. You don't trash-talk the other guys. There's no honor in beating up on an opponent after the match is over. The bullying is pointless and an unnecessary provocation that might come back to bite Obama--say, for instance, if the GOP takes control of the House this election. To me, when the President does this, it's because he doesn't have any point of substance to make, so he engages in condescending, judgmental rhetoric.
I've mentioned multiple times why the Republicans opposed Baby TARP. There is a resistance of conservatives to government meddling: we know there are strings that come with federal dollars. Interestingly enough, this came up recently during the Kagan hearings, because the Harvard faculty wanted to exclude military recruiters from campus while the university accepted federal dollars for various programs. At the core of the $42B bill is $30B of purchases in dividend-paying stock where select community banks will pay a lower dividend payment if they lend to the "right type" of customers (say, certain small businesses). Who decides the "right type" of customer? The government, of course. Now since Katy Perry isn't appearing with the Muppets, let me teach the young kids a lesson: can you spell C-R-O-N-Y C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-M? Banks are supposed to make loans based on intrinsic considerations of returns and risks, not on having the politically correct right type of customer or the necessary connections in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Larry Kudlow wrote a great column for RealClearMarket, and I just wanted to underscore a couple of relevant points he made:
According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), only 4 percent of small-business owners surveyed in August cited a lack of financing as their top business problem. And a full 91 percent say all their credit needs are met....
Now, the Obama plan includes some tiny targeted tax cuts for capital gains and faster business depreciation. But why not universalize those ideas for all businesses on a permanent basis, instead of just small-ball targeting? If you believe those investment-related tax cuts will work for a year for small businesses, why not believe they will work permanently for all businesses? Just lower the cost of capital and raise the investment return permanently to reignite sagging animal spirits in the economy. Then let markets -- not government planners -- make the final decisions.Let me see...what conservative blogger has been constantly pushing for BROAD-BASED relief, not the partisan government picking winners and losers.... The best way to get 15 million people back to work is to provide stimulus across big businesses and small--not just those opportunities coincidentally aligned with Democratic special interests, e.g., teachers, auto workers, green energy, etc.
So Obama has been fighting for a measure to acquire partial ownership in banks (roughly 75% of the amount of the money in the bill) even though only 1 in 20 small businesses can't obtain the financing they need... Talk about pushing on a string... And only $12B for tiny tax breaks, etc.
More Politically Correct Misleading Statistics
Personally, I don't worry about what the politically correct establishment thinks about my opinions: will they call me a misogynist, a racist, and a homophobe? I don't really care what some judgmental elitist thinks about me. But I dislike it when progressives intentionally use misleading or even false statistics.
I don't need lectures about the contributions of professional women in today's society; three of my beautiful sisters have professional careers as a registered nurse, a librarian, and a CPA. Two of my nieces are registered nurses and another is a teacher. (I once made a mistake of showing the guys in the dorms pictures of my sisters; one of the guys complimented the photo of my sister and then looked at me and said, "What the hell happened to you, man?")
Diana Furchtgott-Roth has an interesting post on The Hill: "Gender Pay Gap is a Myth". She disputes the phony 77-cents-on-the-male-dollar statistics and summarizes accordingly:
When differences in hours worked, time in the workforce, education, or choice of vocation are considered, many academic studies show that women make around 94 percent of what men make. The remaining six cents are due to unexplained variables, one of which might be discrimination.Diana also points out that women have a significantly lower unemployment rate than men and earn nearly 60% of bachelor's and Master's degrees issued. She spends the rest of the post debunking the "Paycheck Fairness Act", noting the GAO presented their study, concluding "Our analysis neither confirms nor refutes the presence of discriminatory practices." It is very difficult to prove a negative; for example, how do you prove you are unemployed? Obviously the burden of proof is on those rationalizing the
Political Humor
"House Minority Leader John Boehner says he has never been in a tanning bed and that he gets his dark complexion from his mother. Either he's lying or Snooki's a lot older than she's telling us. " –Jimmy Fallon
[Well, Boehner had seen in Obama's autobiography where Obama wrote that he has never been in a tanning bed and that he got his dark complexion from his father.]
"These Tea Party groups are very conservative. In fact, 58 percent of Tea Party members now believe Joe Biden is a Muslim." –Jay Leno
[The confusion is understandable; Joe Biden has been seen praying 5 times daily as the mid-term elections approach.]
Musical Interlude: The "British Invasion" of the 1960's Series
Dusty Springfield, "I Only Want To Be With You"
