jeffreymark

FORD GETS POLITICAL

And it's a damn good thing. The add below speaks a ten thousand words.

HIGH GAS PRICES-THE AMERICAN WAY

Bud, you think you got worries over sky high gas prices? Do you believe the oil companies and American capitalism have gone wacko? Think again. Gas prices have always soared. Feller, it's the American way. Just watch this old 1959 commercial. Mr. Tennessee Ernie Ford himself feels your pain.

 

ACTON INSTITUTE

Faithful conservative clergy know the importance of economic equity. They also know the dangers of a centralized authority who seeks power through excessive moralizing.   Clergy intuitively sense the dangers of excessive government, yet they know nothing about alternative faith induced measures for reconciling wealth, poverty, and Christian theology.

Enter the Acton Institute. 

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is named after the great English historian, Lord John Acton (1834-1902). He is best known for his famous remark: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Inspired by his work on the relation between liberty and morality, the Acton Institute seeks to articulate a vision of society that is both free and virtuous, the end of which is human flourishing. To clarify this relationship, the Institute holds seminars and publishes various books, monographs, periodicals, and articles.

I like Acton's balanced approach. They apparently provide substantive dialogue over a deeply divisive issue Read more about this unique institution here.

ENERGY PRICES AND THE BLAME GAME

John Hinderaker offers an analysis of high energy prices:

It is getting hard to keep track of all of the disgraceful things Barack Obama is doing, but we shouldn't overlook his effort to blame high energy prices on "speculators." In fact, the high price of petroleum, which in turn raises the cost of everything else, is due to a combination of market forces and the Obama administration's terrible energy policies. When you have an administration that openly wishes for higher energy costs, it shouldn't be a surprise when prices go up. 

The public, including your's truly, is a bit miffed at why these prices continue to climb. Blame God, blame Obama, blame BIG OIL; who the hell do we blame? Hinderaker, in his compelling lawyerly like manner, takes the administration to the wood shed for their "populist fraud."

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE "DEAL"

Obama's acquiescence to conservative demands seemed so effortless; so unquestionably cooperative. He simply rejected his base's desires and extended the Bush tax cuts in a "deal." Just like that, easy, no questions asked. In politics, however, an elephant always lurks in the room. Sometimes he's a bit invisible and we can only detect him when looking through discerning glasses. 

Our Godfather blogger Hugh Hewitt may have given us the eyes to see with this observation:

At the close of his show yesterday, Rush noted matter-of-factly that the GOP could have gotten so much more than they did.  That was a quiet but not-likely-to-be-missed signal to the back benchers that trouble is headed their way with this vote.  They had all better be listening to Rush very closely today.  He jokes about being "titular head of the Republican Party," but he has an uncanny grasp of how his audience reacts to politics, which is not surprising since he has been doing this 20 years.  Incredibly, no one on the GOP side thought to ask him for thoughts on the wisdom of "the deal" before it became the deal.

As noted below, Jim DeMint came out against the deal on my program last night, and Michele Bachmann all but did while noting, rightly, that as the last election was all about actually reading the bills presented to the members, she wanted to withhold judgment until the proposal was before her and not commit on the basis of press reports.  This is a very smart caution to all GOP members, who must insist that they get the bill with plenty of time to read the fine print, and to distribute the fine print to the scores of new representatives and senators about to be sworn in.

The real problems for conservatives are two.  

First, any conservative who votes for the deal is voting to resurrect the death tax.  The death tax is at zero right now, driven there by a decade of step downs and a moral argument, widely and deeply held, that this vampire tax is wrong on many levels.  Any Republican who votes for the deal is voting to undo that demise.  Any future primary opponent will be sure to campaign on the fact that the incumbent voted to resurrect the death tax --a powerful club with which to beat a senator facing a Tea Party challenge, and some of the redistricted old bulls of the House as well.

The House GOP has a second huge problem.

On September 23, all of the House GOP leadership agreed to the Pledge to America at the Tart Lumber store in Sterling Virginia (picture below).  Among the Pledge's many explicit guarantees:

Permanently Stop All Job-Killing Tax Hikes (p.16)

Act Immediately to Reduce Spending (p.21)

Cut Government Spending to Pre-Stimulus, Pre-Bailout Levels (p.21)

Read the Bill (p.33)

Advance Legislative Issues One at a Time (p.33)

The "deal" threatens to undo the "pledge" on these four counts before the new Congress is even seated.  If that happens, what sort of credibility will the new GOP majority have?

You cannot begin a new commitment to transparency via a secret deal with the president that reneges on key pledges made prior to the campaign.

More news on why Jim DeMint opposes the "deal" found here. 

 

OBAMA'S ECONOMICS TEAM CHICAGO STYLE

Here they are in action folks.

AMERICANS STILL LOVE THEIR SUV'S

This article from The American demonstrates the disconnect between liberals and Joe Six-pack American:

Yes, Mr. President, “Anybody can buy a truck.” And they do. President Obama’s last minute (and futile) campaign slam at Massachusetts’s new U.S. Senator, Scott Brown—trying to belittle the fact that he drove his GMC pickup truck up and down the state on the way to an upset victory—is another poignant example of how out of touch with mainstream America the “educated classes” can be. Indeed, at last week’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit, amid all the buzz about the vehicles government and greenies believe Americans should buy—think electric, small, tiny, little, abstemious—there were some interesting reminders about what many Americans do buy. Trucks. Specifically, pickup trucks and truck-based SUVs. Struggling General Motors let it be known that as part of its effort to shake off the dust and rubble of its collapse into bankruptcy and pay back the billions it owes taxpayers, it will invest a reported $1 billion to refresh and update its full-size Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks. Why? Because they make money—lots of money.

But, of course those who live in ivory towers such as Karl Marx, Frederick Nietzsche, and many others know what's best for the rest. Never mind that their so called intellectual enlightenment lead to the Stalinist slaughters and Nazi killing machine.

COOKING THE BUREAUCRATIC BOOKS

Hey, my wife and I both got raises this year. Does that count as an Obama saved job?

MORE CASH FOR CLUNKERS DEBACLE

It seems the clash for clunkers program has not changed the market at all:

Sure, we all know a lot of those "rice burners" are built right here in the good old U.S. of A. by American workers, who stand to benefit from any increase in auto sales.
But a lot of them aren't. Let's forget that for the moment, and the fact that these companies, regardless of how many Americans they employ, are foreign-owned. Our tax money is going to prop up Japan's and Korea's bottom line. I'm sure that if the situation were reversed, they'd be delighted to return the favor.
But, as I said, let's set that aside. Isn't it sad that when congress bestows $3 billion in free money to American consumers to go out and buy cars, that four out of the top five they choose are Japanese? Are the foreigners that much better at satisfying American demand than Americans are? Do they know us better than we know ourselves?
Or is it simply that they're more nimble and can whirl their factories around like speedboats to start producing the cheaper, more efficient units that we now demand, while U.S. companies are still trying to pull off a U-turn with a freighter?

A commentator to the original article offers this profound insight:

Well, having observed GM for a long time, I'd say the real difference is that Japanese companies think "quality" is an engineering problem, and GM thinks it is a marketing problem.

OBAMANOMICS MADE SIMPLE

The video below explains to us eco 101 illiterate types, the implications behind Obamanomics.