He will never have true friends
who is afraid of making enemies.
William Hazlitt
From the Bernanke Family Album
While other boys were throwing baseballs, young Benny was aiming for a career as a crony hanker (HT Carpe Diem). The Federal Reserve has managed to fritter away 98% of the purchasing power of the dollar. Unfortunately no picture of Ben operating his toy printing press):
Bernanke Announces Q3: THUMBS DOWN!
Romney had already warned the Fed from taking such a move, an attempt to boost the economy before a national election. Romney has also been on the record against renominating Bernanke for a third term. Again, against free market principles Berrnanke is manipulating interest rates and MBS and bond purchases, with near zero interest rates well into 2016 and a more open-ended security purchase commitment. Bernanke is also worried about the effects of the sequester, Bush and payroll tax resolution at the end of year. I"m far more concerned about the ongoing loss of purchasing power of the dollar and a spendthrift Congress and President.
Follow-up Odds and Ends
- Miscellany: 9/23/23; Entertainment Potpourri; William Close finishes third in AGT . Congratulations to the winning act. the Olate Dogs. Personally I wouldn't pay good money to see a dog act, which is why I'll never even get elected dogcatcher.
- Miscellany: 9/11/12: Obama, how's that Egypt policy working for you? and yesterday's analysis of the Romney Kerfuffle. Several developments:
First, in my Romney critique yesterday I pointed out that there were a variety of possible reasons why radicals might be motivated (including but not restricted to the expanding drone strikes, the UBL killing, Gitmo, etc.) for an attack beyond the controversial film.
State Secretary Hillary Clinton released the following statement:
This video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: To denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage. But as I said yesterday, there is no justification, none at all, to responding to this video with violence. We condemn the violence that has resulted in the strongest terms.I think that Clinton made Romney's point about sending mixed messages. Even though I made similar comments, I am not a part of the US government. A few points here:
- Clinton is clearly making the same error I've criticized Romney for: assuming the film was the motivating factor
- It is not the function of the government to act as a censor on free expression. There is no reason for Clinton to express an opinion; it is irrelevant to the fact of violation of international law, an act of war, and clear violations of human rights. Yes, she says it later, but discussion of the film was unnecessary and counterproductive.
- Whatever became of the talking point that the American military was creating new generations of radicals?
- What Romney should he addressing is the consequences of the Bush/Obama meddling in the Middle East and Gulf region.
- The US government can't he in the business of playing whack a mole where government policy is held hostage by foreign countries upset by our citizens expressing their unalienable rights.
Medicare: Political Games
Tanner has a number of important takeaways:
- ."Last year, Americans paid $274 billion in Medicare taxes and premiums. At the same time, the program paid out $564 billion in benefits. That amounts to a shortfall of roughly $290 billion. Looking into the future, even the most optimistic estimate by the program's trustees puts Medicare's future unfunded liabilities at more than $38.6 trillion. More realistic projections suggest the shortfall could he up to or more than 90 trillion.
- It is important to point out that the president's "cuts" are cuts only in the Washington sense of a reduction in the rate of increase
- "But since we cannot pay the current level of benefits in the future, seniors will either have to pay more or get less no matter who wins this election. Romney and Ryan are simply being a little more explicit—and honest—about it."
I think the audio points out the problem that the average program participant in taxes and premiums pays about $150K into the program and receives about $350K in benefits
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Another key point is the double counting, which Tanner underemphasizes. The entitlement trust fund "invests" in bonds dedicated to government overspending, not real assets. If Medicare savings fund ObamaCare, and are repaid with an IOU. the government still has to cash in the bond to reimburse Medicare. If the government doesn't have the cash elsewhere, it has to resort to public debt, not to mention OhamaCare needs to get funded otherwise.
Tanner argues both parties have engaged in accounting gimmicks to achieve savings, likely to result in counterproductive provider attrition.
My Favorite Groups
Roxette, "Joyride". This is the last in my Roxette series. Next I'll cover the Commodores.
