So, I’m sittin’ here looking at old articles regarding the Tea Party and how racist they are. Right?
After all, we’ve seen the pictures that show how the Tea Party protests lack a certain…a certain, shall we say, touch of color.
And who can argue?
But what is your reaction when I tell you that those protests weren’t Tea Party protests? Rather, they were Union protestors opposing Scott Walker.
Racists!
I have greatly enjoyed this art of blogging –though I DO wish the name were different, it conotates a less mature effort than I think it is–that has allowed me to explore, connect and think about so many more issues in so many more ways than I otherwise would have.
How could people even as recently as 1995 been able to stay abreast of the current issues of the day like we do now? Amazing.
Anyway, as is the nature of this thing we do, I was reading a post over at Poison Your Mind and the conversation turned in a very unexpected way/. The post had to do with the fact that the current crop of Republican governors are far more conservative than the constituency that elected them. All this while the current Democrat governors were much more closely aligned. Fascinating stuff. Go read the whole thing.
However, we began discussing whether the current GOP governors were more fiscally conservative or socially. I suspect that its the former, PYM felt otherwise. And a quick discussion over some social issues took place with a comment that made me stop:
That’s because the pro-life movement is interested in preventing abortions, it’s about government mandating of traditional gender roles.
True?
If you aren’t reading Carpe Diem, you should. Go, right now, check out Mark Perry’s site.
This whole thing started way back when. I was an avid reader of Rob Neyer over at ESPN. I was very much into baseball and stats and just the game. I loved me some Neyer. Since then, however, ESPN has made his stuff paid content and I no longer go to ESPN. But whatever, ‘nother story. One day, a long time ago, Rob mentioned a writer in Minnesota, Twins Geek. And Twins Geek wrote a blog. And I didn’t know what a blog was. But it had the words, Twins, Geek and Neyer, so I checked it out.
And it turns out Twins Geek is a dude from Minnesota who works in an office doing office type work who just loves to write.
And I love that.
So, now I know what a blog is and I start looking for one. And I trip upon Coyote Blog. And NOW it’s on. This is just too cool. And, after reading Coyote for awhile, I notice he refers us to Carpe Diem on a regular basis. And Mark Perry is from Minnesota. And he writes about interesting stuff in a way that just makes sense.
So I read him everyday.
In fact, he is a large inspiration for the stuff I write here. Only, like, he’s better and smarter, but hey, I have longer hair!
Anyway, via Mark Perry at Carpe Diem comes this:
We have what you call a spending problem.
By the way, if you like baseball and can stand the Twins, check out this most amazing site dedicated to Sabermetrics with a Twin’s twist. This guy is the hero. Dropped out of school at the UofM, living in his mom’s townhouse blogging about baseball at 3,000 words a clip. Gets picked up by NBC sports and is livin’ large.
Nancy Pelosi:
“This is an excuse. The budget deficit is an excuse for the Republicans to undermine government plain and simple. They don’t just want to make cuts, they want to destroy. They want to destroy food safety, clean air, clean water, the department of education. They want to destroy your rights.”
Milton Friedman:
The federal government has spent years considering whether to take steps to help keep dangerous strains of E. coli bacteria out of the food supply, a question that has become even more urgent in the face of a deadly wave of E. coli sickness that swept through Europe and raised alarms on both sides of the Atlantic.
Now, two major American companies, Costco Wholesale and Beef Products Inc., have gotten tired of waiting for regulators to act. They are proceeding with their own plans to protect customers.
Last month, Costco, one of the nation’s largest food retailers, quietly began requiring its suppliers of bagged produce, including salad greens and mixes, apple slices and baby carrots, to test for a broad range of toxic E. coli.
“We know this is where we have to go and there’s no reason to wait,” said Craig Wilson, the food safety director of Costco. In the last two weeks, he said, most produce suppliers have added a test that can detect the strain from the European outbreak as well.
We don’t need government to test our food.
Milton Friedman in a knockout.
Posted in Government, Politics: National
Tagged Abuse of Pow, Costco, Food Testing, Leftists, Milton Friedman, Nancy Pelosi
I think that I am consistent with the Republican party’s claim that one Mr. Barack Obama spends too much. Further, I think that I am consistent with the same Republican party in their view that it’s spending, not revenue that’s the problem. After all, I’ve demonstrated that receipts increase year over year at a 7.2%. And by simply slowing the growth of government, we can balance the budget in as little as 19 years. God forbid what happens if we actually REDUCE the year over year of the government spend.
To that end, there has been much talk in the nation about that government spending. Where it came from and who is actually spending it.
Remember, the subject is spending. And that Barack is doing more of it than anyone else.
The context is “who is contributing to the massive increase in government spending we are seeing?”
And the answer to that question is being answered by this graph:
Posted in Diplomacy, Economy, Government, Politics: National
Tagged Barack Obama, Debt Limit, George Bush, Spending
Latest InTrade chart on whether or not Washington will raise the debt ceiling by midnight July 31st, 2011.
Doesn’t look positive.
On the upside, if you think they pull out of this spiral by July 31st at midnight, there’s money to be had!
For a long time I have railed on the current policy of providing long-term unemployment benefits to people out of work. I’ve gone further and documented available jobs in my area. Granted, the jobs are rather unattractive and have, in some cases, offended friends and family who maybe themselves or know someone who has been or is currently, unemployed.
I’ve suspended that series.
However, my point all along is not that people who aren’t taking those jobs but relying on benefits are lazy, it’s that they are rational. The incentives are all wrong.
For example, if I’m unemployed and collecting $350.00 a week what is the marginal value of me taking a job that pays, say $8 an hour for 40 hours? Well, it works out like this:
And THAT is why our unemployment rate is so high.
Anyway, that’s not my point. This is:
Posted in Economics, Economy, Liberty, Politics: National
Tagged Incentives, Unemployment
So, yesterday I posted about a possible solution to the deficit and the debt. In those plans I accommodated those on the right who insist on a plan that includes no new revenues due to tax increases. Further, I accommodated those on the left who insist on a plan that doesn’t cut; in fact my plan GROWS government each and every single year.
As I ended my analysis I demonstrated a method by which both of those targets were met AND we backed away from the debt limit that we are struggling with today. The solution began to reduce the the deficit in year 1. And it balanced the budget in year 19. It’s the perfect trifecta.
But what if we can do better? What if we can reduce the amount of time in which we are free of the deficit?
I think we can:
Posted in Economy, Government, Politics: National, Rocket Surgery
Tagged Budget, Debt Ceiling, Debt Limit, Politics, Tax Policy Center
NASCAR is big in North Carolina. I used to make fun of it when I lived back in Minnesota. Now, we watch it as a family now.
I’ve embraced the South and am beginning to love it. So, this is me:
Brother Love’s Travellin’ Salvation Show has nothin’ on this man.