HE DID IT ! THE OCEANS HAVE STOPPED RISING ! ! !

From The Guardian (UK):

Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings.

The study, published in 2009 in Nature Geoscience, one of the top journals in its field, confirmed the conclusions of the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It used data over the last 22,000 years to predict that sea level would rise by between 7cm and 82cm by the end of the century.

In a statement the authors of the paper said: "Since publication of our paper we have become aware of two mistakes which impact the detailed estimation of future sea level rise. This means that we can no longer draw firm conclusions regarding 21st century sea level rise from this study without further work.
 
One mistake was a miscalculation; the other was not to allow fully for temperature change over the past 2,000 years. Because of these issues we have retracted the paper and will now invest in the further work needed to correct these mistakes."
 
IT WORKED !  IT WORKED !  HE DID IT !  THE OCEANS HAVE STOPPED RISING ! !   ALL HAIL TO THE OBAMESSIAH ! ! ! !   
 


We can all sleep so much better now....

A Proposal That The White House Staff Take Some Time Off. A Few Years If Necessary.

According to The Washington Post, The White House Staff are working themselves to death.

Political Washington has long fostered a workaholic culture, the expectation that the rewards of service on the big stage of national government come with 18-hour, on-call days. But even the most hardy of Obama's staff members are beginning to recognize the toll that the pace is taking.

The grueling schedule has forced most of the presidential aides to abandon physical exercise, and the few who persist -- often because of incessant goading from their fitness-fixated commander in chief -- have planned their workouts at times that stretch their schedules even further.
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel arrives at the House of Representatives gym at 5:30 a.m.; his top aide, Sarah Feinberg, starts her workout at a Water Street gym at 5:15 a.m. By 5:30 a.m., the White House Bulletin -- a compilation of political clippings from newspapers and Web sites -- appears in inboxes and on BlackBerrys, demanding attention. By 7 a.m., West Executive Drive between the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is filled with staffers' cars.

In the meantime, The Teleprompter Jesus has admitted that despite putting aside more than 750 billion dollars for cronies, patronage, make-work projects and featherbedding in an insane rush to pass a stimulus bill, an act that put our great-grandchildren into debt, unemployment will soon reach double digits.

The workaholics at Pennsylvania Avenue have managed to hit a ONE TRILLION DOLLAR Federal deficit for the first time ever. And we're only 9 months into the fiscal year.

Much has been written on these pages and elsewhere about Congress not having time to read the thousands of pages of legislation that Owebama is throwing their way.

In the meantime, nobody is hiring. My employer, Jukt Micronics, is laying people off. There are empty chain stores and warehouses everywhere you look.

Why? Mostly because nobody knows what insane stunt The Messianic Saviors Of Us All are going to pull next. Expanding a business, or starting a business, requires a somewhat stable environment.

But look what's coming down from Washington: the Employee Free Choice Act, The Fair Labor Standards Act, a host of potential Global Warming Global Cooling Climate Change legislation designed to punish all carbon-based life forms except those which have devolved into inorganic matter. In their free time, they're working on socialized medicine, and then working night shifts at the printing presses churning out ever more worthless dollars to pay for all this crap.

This is NOT a good way to encourage people to start hiring.

That gets us to the final question, one I've seen in anti-smoking ads aimed at tobacco executives....

Don't you White House guys ever take a day off?

Please. Think of your wives, husbands and kids. (And everyone else's. They might want to spend some money on their own one day.)

Every link in this post was shamelessly ripped off from Hot Air. Pics of workaholics came from here and here and here.

What were we expecting to happen?

From The Associated Press:

WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian mayors have passed a resolution that would potentially shut out U.S. bidders from local city contracts.
The resolution is in retaliation to "Buy American" provisions in President Barack Obama's stimulus bill. Mayors voted 189-175 to approve the resolution at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Whistler, British Columbia.
The resolution says the federation should support cities that adopt policies that allow them to buy only from companies whose home countries do not impose trade restrictions against Canadian goods.
The mayors also voted to hold off on any action for 120 days while Canada is negotiating a possible compromise with the U.S. government.

Canada's reaction to the "Buy American" provisions in the porkulus plan is, of course, an irrational response to our stupidity. Economies prosper when consumers are protected, not producers.
But still.... what kind of response was our Doofus In Chief expecting?
Hit the Protectionism label below if you want to read several dozen rants on the same topic.

Iowahawk takes over the GM marketing department

This is a continuation of the previous post.
I've been having these recurring dreams about going to the final G.M. bankruptcy auction in the year 2014. These dreams have been curiously episodic, with each one beginning where the previous dream ended.....

As I wonder how I'm going to explain spending two grand on a "Hillary" doormat, I begin to wonder what it was that finally put G.M. out of business in 2014. Was it the fact that design changes had to go through the Deparment Of Commerce? Was it the Imperial Decree from President (of the U.S.) Obama to the President (of G.M.) Obama that all vehicles must get 83 miles per gallon? Was it the lawsuit over red cars not being "green" enough?

One of the many, many reasons for the G.M. bankruptcy: They didn't have a decent marketing department. The ads were curiously unappealing, despite being produced by my online friend Iowahawk. Check out this one, about the Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition:



I woke up at 4:14 this morning, screaming about the horror of late 1970's dance moves.
I've got to stop obsessing over this. Yes, the president of the United States has fired the President of General Motors.
Yes, he knows nothing about running a car company.
And no, it can't possibly end well.
Their problems are not my problems. Deep down inside, I know this. Its just the principle of the thing. Presidents shouldn't install themselves as CEO of corporations whose donors are in trouble.
Am going to try Vicodin, just to see if the dreams stop.

I Have A Dream ! (And Buy Some Stuff I Don't Need)

This is a continuation of the previous post.
I've been having these recurring dreams about going to the final G.M. bankruptcy auction in the year 2014.


These dreams have been curiously episodic, with each one beginning where the previous dream ended.....


In my dream, I wipe my feet on the Hillary doormat and go into the former office of General Motors' CEO Barack Obama.

GM's President Obama had the strangest career path in automotive history. From his early days as a failed community organizer, then his unremarkable tenure as a constitutional law professor, to his generic stay in the Illinois state senate, and a brief pit stop at the U.S. Senate., Obama finally used all of his non-experience as a launching pad to become leader of the free world for about six months.

But what Obama really wanted to do was make cars. Using his status as president of a less vital organization to mount his hostile takeover, Obama forced Rick Wagoner, GM's Old School president, to resign.

Then Obama started rebuilding every element that mattered in the GM organization - the union, the lobbyists, the environmental compliance officers, the get-out-the-vote specialists, the Card Check goons, the retirees' pension fund administrators, the rent seekers, the UAW liaisons, and the company logo.

Judging by campaign contributions from employees and vendors, things went well at first. But then it became necessary to sell some cars, and the government could only purchase so many for itself. So the government began issuing new coupons to low income families. These coupons were good for Agricultural College staples like eggs and cheese, or could be traded in for a Chevy Cavalier.

Within a few months, middle schoolers were calling all GM products "Loser Cruisers". No amount of marketing (Tipper Gore was brought in for a YouTube video in a failed attempt to revive the GTO) could restore any level of coolness to GM automobiles.

There was a failed re-branding campaign....

....and then the company continued its sad slow decline.

I slid into the chair behind Obama's desk, and put my feet up. To my left was the famed trophy case, still containing Hillary's pride and Larry Summers' integrity. To my right was a large bookcase displaying titles like CEO For Dummies, Auto Design For The Complete Idiot, and several hundred copies of Dreams Of My Father. The office had a massive picture window looking out over the now-quiet assembly line, and I could barely hear the auctioneer droning away.

How sad it would have to be, to work one's entire life to become President of a major car company, only to have it go out of business.

I make a note to bid on the trophy case, and go back into the hallway toward the production floor. The auctioneer is on a rolling platform, obviously frustrated that there is no longer a market for much of what he is selling....

"Ok, let's move on to the next lot," he says. "Who'll give me three million dollars for this inline paint system? Who'll give me two million? Somebody start us off. One million? 500K? Somebody get us going...."

Mr. China looks at his shoes. Mr. Japan heads to the restroom.

"What do you want to pay for this system? Somebody start us off. It cost 40 million when they installed it in the nineties. Who'll start us off at fifty thousand?"

Mr. China says something about not having enough carbon credits. Mr. Taiwan is unseen, remaining the silent online bidder. They both look at me, and I have to explain that I'm not registered with the cap-and-trade system. Eventually I offer $500, out of guilt more than anything else, and the auctioneer immediately says "Sold". If I'm lucky, I'll clear enough from a scrap dealer to purchase a McDonald's Value Meal.

No one bids on the welders. They emit gases into the atmosphere.

No one bids on the shears or machining centers. The insurance is too expensive. Lawsuits waiting to happen.

No one bids on the giant punch presses - they're now White Elephants. With permits, fees, sin taxes, and other regulations, no one can afford to drive any of the large cars this machine once created. Most new model 2014 cars are small enough to be made on an anvil.

The auction goes on and on, with most of the lots going unsold, or selling for pennies on the dollar. And then I find myself raising my hand for one more irrational purchase.

I woke up at 6:00 this morning, wondering how I was going to explain paying $2,000 for a "Hillary" doormat. Thank God it was a dream. I get a feeling I'm going to dream about this damn auction again tonight.

The G.M./Obama logo came from Black & Right, an African-American blogger who makes me seem calm and reasonable. The Obama cap was emailed from The Moxie Mom.

I Have A Dream ! (of General Motors in 2014)

I go to a lot of auctions.
A few of these are held at workplaces that are selling off surplus equipment, but most of the time the company has simply gone bankrupt. Auctions are the best way to determine fair market value when selling assets to pay back creditors.

At some point during the sale, I usually find some excuse to visit the CEO's office, sit down in the chair from which he directed his vast empire, and wonder what went wrong.

Some places suddenly go under with 6 months' worth of orders still waiting to be manufactured. Others are slowly starved out of existence. Sometimes, there's a lawsuit that shuts them down.

Occasionally I can stroll through the maintenance area and understand the big picture. There will be a vast collection of hot rods, boats, classic cars, 4WD hunting vehicles, plus lots of other toys the owner purchased with company funds. Never a good sign.

Last night, I had a dream....

I'm walking down Highway 360 in Arlington, Texas. It's sometime in the year 2014.

The weather is pleasant, considering that the earth is supposed to already be past Al Gore's "Tipping Point" in 2014.

I follow the "General Motors Auction" signs to a vast factory.....

The parking lot isn't very crowded, considering that billions of dollars worth of equipment is about to change hands. Several of G.M.'s infamous 48-year old retirees are milling around the entrance.

"Want to buy our pensions?" one of them asks. "Sorry, but I'm already on the hook for them," I apologize.

I fight my way past several Union Organizers who are still trying to register passersby for Card Check, and am surprised to see that there's no waiting line at the registration table.

This is unusual.

I give the clerk my business card, and a letter of credit for $350 million dollars. (Remember, its the year 2014, and the bailout and stimulus money has now infiltrated our financial system. It now takes at least fifty grand to get a pizza delivered.)

"Here's your auction catalog and bidder number," says the clerk. "You'll be bidder number 4."

"There are only three other bidders here?" I ask.

"Well, the gentleman from China registered yesterday, the Japanese representative arrived sometime this morning, and the Taiwanese government is bidding online. This could be your lucky day !"

I walk past the registration desk toward the famed G.M. assembly line. It's a manufacturing geek's paradise. There are robotic welders that could weld Juicy Fruit wrappers to a Coke can. There are massive punch presses that could stamp a block of steel into a Chevy Tahoe. These machines demand respect and reverence as you approach them. These are the machines that made the parts for Buicks, Cadillacs, Saabs and Saturns.

I'm walking down the assembly line that for the last five years has manufactured the Michelle 4x4, the Sasha 401K, the new GTO (Malia edition), and the Biden Gaffemaster convertible. Incredible.


With nothing on the assembly line but chassis assemblies, it's hard to tell what particular car was in production when the line shut down. Possibly the Geithner Evader 4.0

"All right, everyone, it's time to get started," I hear the auctioneer say.
This is surreal. There's no one in the plant but the Chinese bidder, the Japanese bidder, and me.

"We're here this morning to sell off the assets of the General Motors Arlington Texas Facility, at the request of the United States Government and President Barack Obama. Getting a facility of this size ready for an auction isn't easy, and we're thankful for all the help and cooperation we've received from General Motors President and CEO, unhhh, Barack Obama."

"All goods are sold 'as is, where is, and with all faults noted', and all sales are final. You will have 10 days to remove your purchases from the factory unless you are high bidder on the building and surrounding real estate. The real estate is part of a package bid that will include The George W. Bush/Texas Rangers Ballpark, the Dallas Cowboys' Arlington Stadium, the Jerry Jones Triumphal Arch, and several other bankrupt taxpayer-funded boondoggles."

"Any questions before we begin?" the auctioneer asks. "Good. Let's get started. Lot #1 is a Kyoto brand emissions tester....Who'll give me $50,000 Who'll start the bidding at $50,000?"

I wander away, leaving the Chinese, Japanese, and Thai bidders to fight it out for the regulatory equipment. I look into the design rooms. The progression from drafting tables to Autocad to Solidworks to Feng Shui Lao Tzu (3.0) has made these auctions a lot less interesting. There are never any leftover drawings to burrow through. But I do find a clay mockup of the prototype Lewinsky Hummer, a model that never made it into production. Everyone said it sucked.

I journey down another hallway, trying to find President Obama's office. This is one of those dreams where each hallway leads to another. I go past the Office Of Regulatory Oversight. I see the Office Of Parallel Authority. I accidentally wander into the lair of the U.S. Government Dispensers Of Red Tape, whose jobs required them to keep the U.S. Government Red Tape Elimination Bureau in business and running at full capacity. I spend an hour trying to find my way out of the Department Of Diversity, the Chamber Of Change, and the Hall Of Hope. Everywhere I look are papers. Filing cabinets full of papers. Reports about papers. None of them have anything at all to do with making cars. The auctioneer's voice begins to fade in the distance as my walk carries me closer and closer to Waco, Texas.

Finally, I see what I'm looking for. At the end of the hallway is a door labeled "Barack Obama, CEO, General Motors". I wipe my feet on the "Hillary" doormat, and go inside.

I just woke up and hit my alarm clock. This dream will probably continue tonight.

Photos from here and here.

Thomas Sowell on Empathy

Please stand for this month's reading from The Gospel According To Saint Thomas....

Economist Thomas Sowell, the smartest man in the world now that Milton Friedman is dead, has examined Obama's desire to appoint a new supreme court justice who has "empathy" with certain groups, and declared that it is a dangerous concept:

Would you want to go into court to appear before a judge with "empathy" for groups A, B and C, if you were a member of groups X, Y or Z? Nothing could be further from the rule of law. That would be bad news, even in a traffic court, much less in a court that has the last word on your rights under the Constitution of the United States.
Appoint enough Supreme Court justices with "empathy" for particular groups and you would have, for all practical purposes, repealed the 14th Amendment, which guarantees "equal protection of the laws" for all Americans.
We would have entered a strange new world, where everybody is equal but some are more equal than others. The very idea of the rule of law would become meaningless when it is replaced by the empathies of judges.

Agreed. The man has spoken.

Thus endeth this week's reading from The Gospel According To Saint Thomas.

You may be seated.

Our next scripture reading is from NickM of the Feline Enumerators, who recently stated that:

The state is not about protecting groups. It is certainly not about protecting groups arbitarily (and crudely) defined by our Lords and Masters. If it ought to be about anything it should be about protecting the rights of the individual through the Common Law and nothing else. We emerged from tribalism and through the PC mob we are returning to tribalism....

These two epistles come to us from opposite side of the world, within the same week. This is proof of their divine inspiration.

Please be seated as the choir sings the choral benediction, a John Spivey anthem entitled, "There Ain't No Such Thing As Group Happiness".

You are dismissed.

A heartfelt prayer for General Motors

Dear God,

You remember that day about 15 years ago when I almost bought that little Chevy pickup, but went with the less expensive Ford Ranger?
I want to thank you for that day. I had to go against everything my father taught me when I bought a Ford instead of a Chevy. Looking back, I can see that it was your hand that guided me. I'm truly not worthy.

Please be with the people who own not only Chevys, but also Buicks, Pontiacs, Saturns, and Cadillacs. They're going to have a hard time getting replacement parts. Not because the company has gone under, and their patents sold off to competitors, but because Barack Obama is now running General Motors. And he's never even been the cashier supervisor at a Taco Bell.

They can't even staff the Treasury. Please help them, God.


Wait, I take that back. Please, please, please don't help them. They don't need encouragement. But thy will be done.

Our government, which runs the post office, V.A. hospitals, and the Department of Motor Vehicles, has taken over the world's largest auto manufacturer, in hopes of making it more "lean, mean, and competitive". Lord Jesus come quickly, for no one here appreciates irony.

They're also going to give us vouchers to encourage us to buy more cars. Each voucher will be worth $3,000 to $5,000. But is there anything worse for the environment than cars? "The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant." (Someplace in Isaiah, I think....) And yet, we will soon be paying more for everything but cars in order to protect the environment. Save us from this wicked generation, O God.

Thank you for the United Auto Workers Union. May they all find jobs with my enemies, so they can do for them what they've done for G.M.

God, please be with Rick Wagoner, the G.M. Chief Executive Officer who Obama forced to resign. Thank you for setting Wagoner up with a $20,000,000.00 severance package. When I first heard the news, I was afraid that I would have to bring Wagoner and his family some canned goods and used clothing from the church. You truly work in mysterious ways your wonders to perform.

God, please give us the wisdom to know the difference between the words "Socialism" and "Fascism", and let us know which one we're approaching.


We ask these things in the name of The Obamessiah, The Chosen One, & "The Teleprompter Jesus",


Amen.

P.S. - I don't mean to dance on the graves of any company, God, but if the G.M. plant in Arlington shuts down??? When they have the auction do you think you could get me a good deal on some more freight scales and stretch wrap machines? Not a big deal; I'm just wondering.

The Infancy Narratives Of Barack Obama

I'm writing something called "The Infancy Narratives Of Barack Obama".

My intent is to compile all of the miracles, parables, and healings performed by the Obamessiah during his formative years of 1961 - 1979.

Whether or not these stories will be seen as "scripture" by later generations is not my concern.

If you were in Hawaii or Kansas during the Barackian childhood and can give witness to his early life and ministry, please let me know. I'm especially interested in the Era Of Indonesian Exile, and need a first-person account of the attempt to feed 5,000 with a $6 Wendy's gift certificate.

I already have the story of when he laid hands on a blind man and made him lame. Don't bother with that one.

The Libertarian Blog Place

Here are a few things from today's Libertarian Blog Place.

Russell Roberts of the Cafe Hayek blog won't be shedding any tears over Tom Daschle removing himself from consideration for a Cabinet post.

Kevin Colby has a fun list of the items under the Stimulus Package Christmas Tree. The post is called "Pork Found In Senate Version Of Stimulus". In related news, there's been "Liquid Found In The Pacific", "Retirees Found In Miami", "Tax Dodgers Found In The Cabinet", and "Poo-Poo Found In The Latrines At Fort Pemberton".

Samizdata has Brian Micklethwait musing about cannabis. My favorite paragraph: "....it looks like cannabis may soon be legalised, but simultaneously nationalised. A bit like the Church of England with religion. This is the other way to discourage things, when outright banning has failed. As an agnostic about cannabis, I favour outright legalisation on libertarian grounds. As an atheist about religion, I have rather a soft spot for the Church of England."

Also on Samizdata, Johnathan Pearce wonders about the ethics of using tax money to pay for art. While you're over there, check out Nick M's comments on the subject, where he gives a shout-out to his debating buddy, Dr. Ralph. (Note to Nick: Put Counting Cats on the Libertarian Blog Place. You won't get but 10-20 hits per day from that site, but a lot of readers will save the link and keep coming back.)

Stephen Moore at "Point Vs. Counterpoint" believes that we're all living in a badly produced community theatre production of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged". Stephen Moore's got a good point.

Christopher Manion at The LRC blog writes that because of the flood in New Orleans ice storms in Kentucky a lot of people drowned 55 people have died while Bush was on vacation while Obama tried to find cabinet members who paid their taxes and a lot of people still don't have homes and a lot of people still don't have electricity.

Also on the LRC....Kathryn Muratore reveals a new bill in the Maryland State Senate that would require certain government buildings (including schools !) to have a picture of the President in a prominent location. (If these shrines are constructed, look for school prayer to be a mandate, not a forbidden activity. All hail to thee, Obamessiah !)

And the UK Libertarian blog has dredged up one of my favorite Ezra Levant videos. Kids, if you're looking for a role model, be like Ezra.

The Obamessiah now dwells among us

From The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3, verses 13-17:




13 Then the Obamessiah came from Chicago to the Temple to be blessed by The Sheeple.
14 But The Sheeple tried to deter him, saying, "We need to be blessed by thee, for we are the ones who should be serving; for we are not worthy to touch the hem of thy garment, Obamessiah."
15 The Obamessiah replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all that the prophets foretold." Then The Sheeple consented, and brought forth from The Holy of Holies the Ark Of The Covenant, and from it the Chief Priests took The Book Of The Seven Seals.
16 And when The Obamessiah lay his hand upon The Book, he slowly levitated from the Temple steps, and ascended halfway unto the heavens. And we beheld his glory. And at that moment the heavens were opened, and we saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased. And you are The Sheeple of his pastures. And you shall be fleeced, lo, even unto the third and fourth generations, for his yoke will not be easy, and your burden will not be light."

Picture of The Obamessiah from here.

New Blog Widget

Regular readers might notice that there's a new "Obama The Warmonger" widget off to the right.
In the interest of fairness, I'm giving him until midnight on inauguration day to pull the troops out of Iraq. Then the official countdown begins.
I've not yet created the countdown code for "Lowering The Sea Level", "Raising The Dead", or "Firing Hillary".

A Failed Fisking Of Pat Buchanan

Journalist, Presidential Speechwriter, Rabid Isolationist, Lover of All Labor Unions, and Anti-Free Marketeer Pat Buchanan has written a column entitled "Obama's Choice: FDR or Reagan".

Hmmmmm.....I'll be needing my Fisking tools....
Scalpel - thanks.
Laptop - got it.
Righteous Indignation - I've got plenty.
Various History Websites - check.
My copy of "The Forgotten Man" by Amity Shlaes - Here it is. First edition.
Chainsaw - yep.
Let the Fisking begin ! Here's Pat Buchanan:

Barack Obama, it is said, will inherit the worst times since the Great Depression. Not to minimize the crisis we are in, but we need a little perspective here.
The Great Depression began with the Great Crash of 1929. By 1931, unemployment had reached 16 percent.
By 1933, 89 percent of stock value had been wiped out, the economy had shrunk by one-third, thousands of banks had closed, a third of the money supply had vanished, and unemployment had reached 25 percent -- among heads of households. And in those days, there was no unemployment insurance, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Social Security, no welfare.

Nothing I can argue with there, although I can't find a reference for 89% of stock value being wiped out.

FDR's answer: vast federal spending, tough new regulations on business and higher taxes -- like Herbert Hoover before him, only more so.

Not much to attack there, either. But curiously absent from this analysis? The Smoot-Hawley tariffs. As soon as economic times got tough, Little Herbie Hoover signed something called the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill, which raised taxes on any goods imported into the U.S. That prompted all of our neighbors and trading partners to do the same, in a misguided effort to "protect" their own manufacturers. The result? No one traded with anyone. The only way to wealth is through the market, and the market died.

Next time you hear or read someone like Pat Buchanan or Tom Tancredo wanting to put up more trade barriers, remember that disaster. (To read an old post of mine that I'm rather fond of, click here. I was trying to explain the exact location of Tom Tancredo's head.)

The Depression lasted until war orders from the Allies brought U.S. industry back to life. Before 1940, not once did unemployment fall below 14 percent. In May 1939, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau testified:
"We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. ... I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. ... I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... and an enormous debt, to boot."

I'm seeing that Morgenthau quote all over the 'Net, but haven't found a source for it. But if he didn't say it (Morgenthau was an FDR appointee) he could have done so and remained truthful. It just doesn't seem like something an FDR loyalist would say.

Politically, the New Deal was a smashing success, with FDR's landslides in 1932, 1934 and 1936 virtually wiping out the GOP.

As the cliche goes, "Anyone robbing Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul." Especially when Peter is still wearing diapers and can't vote.

Yet, economically, the New Deal was a bust, failing utterly to restore prosperity. Despite the indoctrination of generations of schoolchildren in New Deal propaganda, that is the hard truth.
Consider, now, how Ronald Reagan responded to the economic crisis of 1980, the worst since the Depression. In the "stagflation" of that Jimmy Carter era, interest rates had reached 21 percent and inflation 13 percent.

I bet somebody out there can help me out with this question.... Has EVERY economic crisis (recession) since 1929 been called the worst since The Great Depression? Do politicians like to hype the situation so that we can Loot The Children® to line our own pockets?

Reagan's answer was the tight money policy of Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and across-the-board tax cuts of 25 percent, while slashing the highest rates from 70 percent to 28 percent.
While unemployment hit 10 percent in 1982 and Reagan lost 26 House seats, in 1983 the tax cuts kicked in.
From there on out, it was boom times until Reagan rode off into the sunset, having created 20 million new jobs. "The Seven Fat Years," author Robert Bartley called them.

That's pretty much how it happened. Too bad that Reagan spent money like a Hollywood Cowboy with Alzheimer's. Which, come to think of it, he was.

Reagan had followed the lead of Warren Harding and Cal Coolidge, who had cut Woodrow Wilson's wartime tax rates of near 70 percent to 25 percent, resulting in "The Roaring '20s," a time of unrivaled prosperity.

Ahh yes. Harding and Coolidge. The laziest presidents, with the best economies. Mommy Party Messiahs don't get the same results. Could there possibly be a correlation?

The JFK tax cuts of the 1960s, also a Reagan model, were equally successful.
Harding, Coolidge, JFK and Reagan all bet on the private sector as the engine of prosperity. All succeeded. Franklin Roosevelt bet on government. And the New Deal failed. It was World War II that pulled the United States out of the Depression ditch of the 1930s.

NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT WE STARTED TRADING WITH GREAT BRITAIN IN A BIG, BIG WAY, TARIFFS BE DAMNED, SUPPLYING THEM WITH EVERYTHING THEY NEEDED TO CONTINUE FIGHTING THE DAMN NAZIS. That may have helped a little, Pat, you protectionist clodhopper....

Comes now the financial collapse and economic crisis of 2008, inherited by Obama, with 40 percent of all stock values wiped out in a year, foreclosures pandemic, and unemployment near 7 percent and surging.
In crafting his solutions, Obama seems to be brushing aside the Reagan, JFK and Harding-Coolidge models, and channeling FDR and the New Deal Democrats.
Already staring at a $1.2 trillion dollar deficit for the year ending Sept. 30, about 8 percent of the entire U.S. economy, Obama intends to add a stimulus package of $700 billion to $1 trillion, yet another 5 percent to 7 percent of gross domestic product. The resulting deficit would be twice as large as Reagan's largest, 6 percent of GDP, which was the largest since World War II.

Wait a minute....wait a minute....didn't we already spend something like 700 Billion channeling FDR and the New Deal Democrats when we bailed out Wall Street? Wasn't that supposed to solve the problem? Or could it be that the Obama candidacy was paid for by Wall Street, and that first 700 billion was merely in exchange for services rendered? And now we've gotta go back to the well for the real bailout? I have a warped admiration for Loot The Children® policies as much as the next person, but even the four-year-olds are starting to figure this thing out, and are starting to protest.

And how is this Niagara of money to be spent?
Hundreds of billions will go out in checks of $500 to $1,000 to wage-earners and individuals who do not even pay taxes. This is much like the George McGovern "demogrant" program of 1972, where every man, woman and child, if memory serves, was to get a $1,000 check from the U.S. government.
Other hundreds of billions will go to shore up state and municipal spending. Other hundreds of billions will go for "infrastructure" projects, another name for earmarks, which is a synonym for pork.

Yeah, the "infrastructure" projects are a synonym for pork and earmarks. But I kinda like Obama's idea of unemployed stockbrokers and investment bankers working on the roads, building bridges, leaning on their shovels, and taking a lunchbox to work.

Now, as Obama does not intend to raise taxes, at least now, he is going to have to borrow this near $2 trillion from foreigners or U.S. taxpayers, or the Fed will have to create the money.

Foreigners will give Bernie Madoff money before they give us any more money. Foreigners will loan money to Somali pirates, in hopes of a quick turnaround on their investment, before they loan us any more money. They might seriously consider the plight of that nice Christian lady in Nigeria who wants to get her money out of the country, but they're not going to loan us any more money. Foreigners will give money to the winos lounging outside of Convenience Stores who "just need a little money for gasoline so they can get home" before they give us any more money.

So The Fed is going to print the money. Count on it.

Undeniably, this will have an impact upon the economy. But what will that impact be?
Where in history, other than World War II, is there evidence that such a mass infusion of spending restored prosperity?

Well, when my daughter was playing blackjack on our recent cruise ship vacation, she lost more than half of her allotted gambling funds on the very first night. By putting more money at risk, she was able to restore prosperity. Eventually. It could've gone either way. She's a big girl now, and it was her choice. What if I'd bailed her out after the first night? I could belabor the analogy by guessing that she might've kept the money instead of putting it at risk again, much like the banks are doing now with the first 700 billion that The Children® loaned them.

Obama and the Democrats are taking a historic gamble, not only with their careers but with the country. If this monstrous stimulus package, plus the trillions in hot money, do not work; if the two ignite rampant inflation, rather than real growth, we are all out of options. The toolbox is empty.

I prefer to see the toolbox as half-full. There's still a chance that Somali pirates will attack Pearl Harbor.

And what will follow may truly resemble the 1930s.

Or a very well-funded Jack Sparrow movie.

I apologize for the total failure of this Fisking. Things are in a sad state when I find myself in general agreement with Rabid Isolationist, Lover of All Labor Unions, and Anti-Free Marketeer Pat Buchanan.

On The Inconvenience Of Prosperity

Here's John Stossel on [the President-elect's] plans to remake the economy because of the recession.
He begins with a couple of quotes:
"Painful crisis also provides us with an opportunity to transform our economy to improve the lives of ordinary people," - Barack Obama
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste" - Rahm Emmanuel

So they will "transform our economy." [the President-elect's] nearly trillion-dollar plan will not merely repair bridges, fill potholes and fix up schools; it will also impose a utopian vision based on the belief that an economy is a thing to be planned from above. But this is an arrogant conceit. No one can possibly know enough to redesign something as complex as "an economy," which really is people engaging in exchanges to achieve their goals. Planning it means planning them.
[the President-elect] and Emanuel want us to believe that their blueprint for reform will bring recovery from the recession. Yet we have recovered from past recessions without undertaking a radical social and economic transformation.
In fact, reform would impede recovery.
This is not the first time a president chose reform over recovery. Franklin Roosevelt did it with his New Deal, and the result was long years of depression and deprivation.

Later on, he digs up the scariest quote of all. This is from FDR's 2nd Inaugural address:

"To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled conscience, irresponsibility and ruthless self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose."

We're already seeing grousing that the current stretch of cold weather is going to interfere with funding for initiatives to fight Global Warming. Is there anything that would be more disheartening to the current batch of "Progressives", whose economic and governmental ideals shouldn't have survived the age of feudalism, than a nice, quick economic turnaround?

Obama and FDR

Here are the unemployment figures from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's years in office. All numbers are from "Info Please". I have no idea why they only listed the even-numbered years, but this is enough for you to get the picture:

1932 - 23.6%
1934 - 21.7%
1936 - 16.9%
1938 - 19%
1940 - 14.6%
1942 - 4.7%
1944 - 1.2%

"The Day That Will Live In Infamy", when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, was December 7, 1941. That got the country onto a wartime footing and virtually eliminated unemployment (along with many of FDR's economics experiments.) There were already a few signs of a recovery in the making by 12-7-41, but scattered experts are starting to question the wisdom of FDR's big government economic recovery plans.

FDR's New Deal took a generic recession and turned it into a prolonged depression.

One of the main reasons the recovery took so long? (Besides punitive tariffs that virtually shut down worldwide trade?) Nobody knew what sort of crazed recovery experiment FDR And His Band Of Merry Meddlers would throw at them next. Most people were afraid to invest in anything, for fear that the rules would change in the next "experiment".

Two UCLA economists have studied FDR's track record, and decided that FDR's New Deal experiments with the economy prolonged the Great Depression for 7 years.

Here's my favorite quote from the link above: "The fact that the Depression dragged on for years convinced generations of economists and policy-makers that capitalism could not be trusted to recover from depressions and that significant government intervention was required to achieve good outcomes," Cole said. "Ironically, our work shows that the recovery would have been very rapid had the government not intervened."

Here's a video of the Obamessiah, parachuting in from Chicago to announce his Economic Recovery team. Of particular note is Timothy F. Geithner, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who will serve as Secretary of the Treasury.

Here's the Washington Post on Mr. Geithner: "Like (Hank) Paulson, Geithner believes that the Treasury should be given vast powers to develop experimental strategies for responding to the crisis and the flexibility to abandon them if they don't work.

May God have mercy on our souls. What's the next trick we're going to pull from the FDR playbook, punitive tariffs "to perteckt Amurrican jobs"????? (Well, yeah, The Obamessiah has already said that he plans to renegotiate NAFTA, and the Colombia Free Trade Agreement appears to be on life support. Please hit the Colombia Free Trade Agreement link. It's a good one.)

So, if you read the UCLA wisdom, do you think FDR's 7 years of Bold Experimentation ended the Great Depression? Or do you think it was the events of December 7, 1941?

Please remember....the Japanese are now our allies. We can't count on them to bail us out by bombing us this time.

Paragraphs That I Didn't Finish Reading....

How Obama Rewrote the Book
By Nancy Gibbs, Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008
Time Magazine

Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope. Barack Obama....


New York Magazine
Daily Intel

One day, I was loitering on the steps of the law-school library, when a mutual friend walked over with him and introduced us. I don't think we shook hands, because I was busy clawing into a pack of Marlboro reds. We both just nodded, and Obama said, in a tone that struck me — or so I'll tell people from this day forward — as eerily presidential, "Hey, you mind if I bum one of those? I'm dying for a smoke....."