Quote of the Day
You have succeeded in life when all you really want isonly what you really need.
Vernon Howard
Illinois Dem Pols Steal From Families to Feed Their Union Cronies
Obama Hopes to Win Pope Francis' Support for His Domestic Policies
The late March meeting between the President and the pontiff will not, Obama hopes, deal with issues like Obama's pro-abortion choice policies, his healthcare policies requiring Catholic institutions to pay for things like contraceptive policies contradicting Catholic moral teachings, etc. Instead, Obama wants Francis' approval or endorsement for his redistribution policies given Francis' bashing free market principles, alleged social darwinism, worship of money, income inequality, etc. But Obama needs to be really careful of what he wishes for; the former Argentinian cardinal had his differences with a populist "progressive" regime back in his home country. To be honest, all the popes (including Benedict) had bashed both capitalism and socialism.
I've made my criticisms of the Pope's bashing of the free market explicit in past posts, but I would point out capitalism or capitalist reforms (e.g., in China) have brought more people out of poverty than all the socialist/redistribution schemes put together. Free trade and markets give the poor ways to stretch their resources on more variety and inexpensive goods and services; higher economic growth lifts all boats, including the poor's with more job opportunities.
Facebook Corner
A relative comments on a controversial Seattle pro football defensive player:
Totally changes your perspective when you read this, but you [know] if I was him I probably would've boasted too.
Nope. Jerks exist across humanity. Having pride in one's performance is one thing; trashing the opposition doesn't reflect well on him as a person. Trying to excuse bad behavior by playing the victim card is rather pathetic--but it's par for the course from the likes of HuffPo.
From a Cato Institute thread on MLK where a discussant argues that MLK would not sign onto many Cato Institute stands on issues:
i listened to a hour long speech yesterday so its quite fresh and everything you said is incorrect and a perfect example of legislating outcomes and incomes is Glass steagal and sherman anti trust both of which have been reversed or not enforced ending in the situation we are in now. Pick up a political history book instead of watching GOPTV or reading CATO. It would do you some good. You can cut the BS with a knife in here
Oh my God, another clueless person citing Glass-Steagall as if it was the holy grail. Glass Steagall concepts had zero to do with the main players in the economic tsunami--Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, the GSE's, AIG, etc. And the Anti-Trust bugaboo. You are the one gullible enough to buy Statist propaganda. The biggest deterrent is transparency, letting big companies fail, lowering barrier to entry...
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of the original artist via the Independent Institute |
Bob Seger, "Against the Wind". My favorite Seger tune: as someone who has constantly faced adversity, especially from a career perspective nearly all his adult life, it naturally appeals to me. But, totally unrelated to the song, I had the hardest time buying the album. The first LP was so warped my needle jumped off the track. I brought it back to exchange at least 4 times--all of the copies warped. The vendor finally refused any more exchanges and refunded my money. It was not my only problem buying LP's. At the risk of losing all my music cred, I once tried to buy a double album of Osmond family hits. The album included the same 2 records (e.g., the first 2 of 4 sides).
