Category Archives: Politics: National

Bill O’Reilly: Wrong On Gas Prices

Posted on February 27, 2012 | 10 comments

 

Bill O’Reilly has launched a pretty big offensive regarding the price of gasoline.  He’s been on air several times extolling the administration to get ahead of the situation and take a leadership role.  Personally, I’m not sure that Obama has  had much influence on the price of gasoline today.  Prices are high today not because of supply and demand, policies where Obama is clearly wrong, but because of the tension in the Middle East.  Specifically with Iran.

Given the nature of the world market there is no wonder that gasoline prices are going up.  And fast.

But O’Reilly loses me on his solutions.

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Posted in Economy, Energy, Government, Liberty, Politics: International, Politics: National, Republicans Can Be Leftists Too

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Why We Hate Guns More Than We Love Kids

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 19 comments

I don’t really like guns.  Never really have.

I grew up with a BB gun; could hit the eye of a bird flyin’ too.  But I never went beyond that.  I never had a shotgun or eve a .22.  I was happy shootin’ my tin cans.

So, I get that people don’t like guns.  I get that if a person doesn’t have a gun, it’s harder to hurt someone.  I get all that.

But, it’s a right that has been established; we GET to own a gun if we want to.  And the reason we get that right is that it’s important that the government isn’t the only people with the guns.

But still; I don’t like guns.  But I love kids more.

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Posted in Liberty, Politics: National

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Cars Are Not Airplanes And Other Things That Are True

Posted on February 26, 2012 | 7 comments

So, I have to tell you how hard it was to resist the temptation to go down the obvious post title on this one.

It was really really hard.

There, now ya know.

But really, cars and airplanes are not strictly the same thing.  And, for that matter, neither is the making of cars and the flying of airplanes the same thing either.  However, companies that make cars and companies that fly airplanes ARE kinda the same.  Same in enough ways that they make for useful comparisons.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Elections 2012, Government, Politics: National

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Are You Smarter Than A Three Year Old: Inequality and fairness

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 5 comments

It’s no secret Obama is going to bang the “It’s not fair” drum this election.  Hell, he’s been bangin’ it since LAST election.  He’s continually calling for the rich to “pay their fair share.”  He can’t rub two speeches together without mentioning that everyone should play by the same rules.  Even more, he continues to claim that the richest among us have been doing exceptionally well in the economy while the rest of us are seeing wages stagnate for the last 30 years.

Don’t forget that it isn’t true:

 The claim that the standard of living of middle Americans has stagnated over the past generation is common. An accompanying assertion is that virtually all income growth over the past three decades bypassed middle America and accrued almost entirely to the rich.

The findings reported here—and summarized in Chart 8—refute those claims.  Careful analysis shows that the incomes of most types of middle American households have increased substantially over the past three decades.

So if it isn’t true, why does Obama continue to bang this drum?

Because he thinks that we think it’s true.

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Posted in Economy, GINI, Middle Class, Politics: National

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George Stephanopoulus And Condoms: Chance

Posted on February 21, 2012 | 14 comments

In a debate held several weeks ago, George Stephanopoulus really zeroed in on Mitt Romney for an answer to the question:

“Could a state ban contraception?”

Romney, sensing the trap, declined to answer.

George didn’t stop-anopoulus.  He kept right on going,  Going to the point that the audience boo’ed him.

My question to you:

Was this a precursor to the whole fabricated women’s health initiative initiated by Obama?  Are they singing from the same hymnal?

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Posted in Elections 2012, Politics: National

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Unemployment Benefits: Incentives Matter

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 4 comments

I’ve argued time and time again that incentives matter.  And why people think this wouldn’t apply to the incentive not to work is beyond me.  But now there is evidence of just how strong that incentive is: via Dan Mitchell

The extension of UI [unemployment insurance] is found to have a positive and significant impact on the national unemployment rate…. The UI benefit extensions that have occurred between the summer of 2008 and the end of 2010 are estimated to have had a cumulative effect of raising the unemployment rate by .77 to 1.54 percentage points.

That seems pretty significant to me.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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Wherein The Economist Channels Pino

Posted on February 18, 2012 | Leave a comment

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times, if you wanna sell more beer, lower the price.  The same concept exists for labor.  If you want people to buy more labor, lower the price of labor.

But even as we face unprecedented levels of unemployment, there are people in the world that wanna make it harder for people to hire people.  They suggest that the real value of the current minimum wage is low and that we should consider raising it match past level.

I don’t understand how pricing low margin workers out of the job market right now makes sense.  And the Economist agrees with me.

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Posted in Economics, Middle Class, Politics: National

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The Limits Of Government Power

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 4 comments

In the last 6 years, the government has done stuff that leaves me wondering if there is a  limit to what it can do.

For example, we see bills such as the Patriot Act passed into law that really push the limits on government intrusion.  If they can do “that”, what can’t they do?

Then there were the wars in foreign nations.  If we can just do “that”, is there any thing that we can’t do?

Then TARP, TARP II and the bailout of the car companies.

All of which leads us to Obamacare and the preventative care mandate.

What can’t they do?

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Posted in Government, Health Care, Liberty, Politics: National

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Media Bias: Fox News

Posted on February 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

So I think I’ve learned a couple of things about the media as I’ve become interested in this stuff:

  1. I don’t think you have to work hard to be one.
  2. Facts are not required.
  3. Each source is biased to it’s own agenda.

This includes those sources that may favor the liberal agenda, The New York Times, for example.  And for those that favor the conservative agenda, Fox News, for example.

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Posted in Idiots on Parade, Life, Politics: National

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Wages, Middle Class And Stagnation

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 1 comment

I’ve been aware, politically aware, since about 2006 or 2007.  That’s when an interesting tidbit caught my attention:

The 2008 Presidential election would be the first in a long time where neither a sitting President or Vice President would be running.

The race would be wide open.  I began to  pay attention, and I was hooked.  And since then I have heard a steady dull roar about the fading middle class.  I’ve heard that the richest among us have been getting richer while the rest of us have experienced wages that remain flat.

The world would have us believe that for most of us, wages have experienced stagnation.

Is it true?

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Middle Class, Politics: National

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