Elizabeth Warren's 11 Commandments Of Progressivism

Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Moses Of Massachusetts, recently spent some quality time with Jehovah atop Mt. Sinai, and came down from the mountaintop with "The 11 Commandments Of Progressivism". 

Please stop your revelry, quit worshipping the Golden Calf, and join me in critiquing Ms. Warren's commandments....

First, let's straighten out some terminology.  The American Left routinely violates the English language by using words to mean whatever the hell they want them to mean.  For instance, I'm a Liberal.  It's a great old word, coming from the same root as liberty, liberate, libertarian, and liberation. 

The American Left seemed to start off as "The Progressive Movement", then morphed into "Liberals", and then after defiling that fine old word, refashioned themselves as "Progressives". 

Here's Michael Barone, explaining some of the transition:

Liberals just aren't very liberal these days. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin word meaning freedom, and in the 19th century, liberals in this country and abroad stood for free speech, free exercise of religion, free markets, free trade -- for minimal state interference in people's lives.
In the 20th-century, New Dealers revised this definition by arguing that people had a right not only to free speech and freedom of religion but also, as Franklin Roosevelt said in his 1941 Four Freedoms speech, freedom from fear and from want.
Freedom from want meant, for Roosevelt, government provision of jobs, housing, health care and food. And so government would have to be much larger, more expensive and more intrusive than ever before.
That's what liberalism has come to mean in America (in Europe it still has the old meaning), and much of the Obama Democrats' agenda are logical outgrowths -- Obamacare, the vast expansion of food stamps, attempted assistance to underwater homeowners.

I support marijuana legalization, I support gay marriage, and I support lots and lots and lots of birth control.  That makes me a Liberal, in the old-school sense of the word. 

I do not believe that someone should be forced to hire stoners, forced to bake cakes for gay weddings, or forced to pay for someone else's morning-after birth control pills.  In the old-school sense of the word, that makes me a.... Liberal. 

So I'm glad that Senator Warren, the Moses Of Massachusetts, has decided to change her label to "Progressive".  Progressive means "someone who wants to take your stuff". 

Let's look at Fauxcahontas's stone tablets:

 The 11 Commandments Of Progressivism !!
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- "We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we're willing to fight for it."

Wall Street already has more rules than the freakin' Koran.  The Securities And Exchange Commission has a budget of 1.32 billion dollars.  Stock purchasing and trading is already one of the most regulated activities on Earth. 
On top of that, Elizabeth Warren's Democrat tribe held the Presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate in the time period immediately after the recent Wall Street fiascos.  Nobody on Wall Street went to jail. 
Elizabeth Warren wants more power and control and money for government.  It really is that simple. 

- "We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth."

I believe in science.  I believe that I have a responsibility to protect this Earth.  (What's up with her saying "this Earth"?  Do we have undiscovered responsibilities to protect other Earths?  And will this require additional funding?)
I do not believe that protecting this (or any other) Earth obligates me to give money to Barack and Elizabeth and The Goracle. 
I will believe that my activity influences the weather when those three jet-setters start acting like their activity influences the weather.  Canadian Geese spend less time in the air than those three con-artists.   

- "We believe that the Internet shouldn't be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality."

Good Lord in heaven....  If we were to discover that some internet service provider was rigging searches, we could drop them like a hot potato.  Leave it to the customer.  End of story.
 
For instance, the Progressives who run Google have de-emphasized their Blogger/BlogSpot service (the one that hosts this blog) in the Google search algorithm. 
I believe that there is a 5 to 1 ratio of Libertarian/Conservative bloggers to Liberal/Progressive bloggers. 
It is far more effective for Google to stifle blog search results than it is for them to contribute $$$ to Progressive candidates. 
I can't prove any of this.  I don't want Washington, or Senator Elizabeth Warren, or Rand Paul to spend a dime trying to prove this.  It's a dumbass conspiracy theory of mine. 
It's Google's company, and they can run it however they choose.  Google gives me this blog site for free, and I can start paying for Wordpress or something else if I choose to do so.  Until then, I shouldn't do any bitching about my delusions of Google violating net neutrality.
 
- "We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage."

And this will guarantee that more low-skilled workers won't work at all, and will live in poverty. 
If I become king and arbitrarily set the minimum selling price on all cars at $50,000.00, you're going to by a Mercedes every single time.  That used, beat-up 1975 Volkswagen Beetle will go unpurchased at $50,000.00
The minimum wage was first put in place in the U.S. to keep (black) poor workers from taking (white) middle-class jobs.  It has always worked precisely as intended. 

- "We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them."

Elizabeth, you ignorant slut. 
McDonald's, Whataburger, Wendy's and Burger King hire the people that Harvard, M.I.T., Bell Helicopter, Google, Microsoft, Yale, and NASA refuse to hire.  Elizabeth, you have refused to hire those fast-food workers. 
Don't take to the picket line.  Stop marching.  Stop bitching and moaning about the low wages offered by others.  Hire those people.  It's easy to make money off of low-skilled labor, right?
And in your spare time, look up the black teen unemployment rate.  Do you really want to price even more of those kids out of a job?  Or are you just trying to get traction from an issue that polls well with Low Information Voters Progressives?    

- "We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt."

Then for the love of God, please end government's near-monopoly on higher education. 
Fire Thomas J. Perez, the Luddite son of a bitch who is now the Secretary Of Labor.  (You know, the guy who, when working for the Justice Department, prevented universities from using the Kindle, because Kindles discriminate against blind people.) 
End lifetime employment guarantees for under-worked academics.
Investigate the possibility that government loans just might be the reason universities can jack up their prices to ridiculous levels.   
Give people a freakin' choice.  There is no reason why a course in Western Civilization should cost more than it did in 1950 (adjusted for inflation). 
We're dealing with cartels, not classrooms.

- "We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions."

Too late.  Social Security and Medicare are both bankrupt.  Gone.  They've spent it all. 

- "We believe—I can't believe I have to say this in 2014—we believe in equal pay for equal work."

I can't believe I'm having to say this in 2014 either.....

Think of all the people who came into your workplace with the exact same background, education and training. 
Then eliminate everyone all those who don't perform your same job in your department. 
Then eliminate those who are better workers than you and those who are worse workers than you. 
In Elizabeth Warren's world, the remaining people are those who should be paid the same as you. 
Could you think of anybody? 
No?  There's no one else with your identical training, education, certifications, pedigrees, work ethic, punctuality, attitude, result, profit margins, congeniality, and downright awesomeness? 

That's why the "equal pay for equal work" theme is nothing but a feast for lawyers. 

- "We believe that equal means equal, and that's true in marriage, it's true in the workplace, it's true in all of America."

This is a meaning less statement.  Dell Computer means Dell Computer.  Tape dispenser means tape dispenser.  Stapler means stapler, and phone means phone (to name just a few of the things on my desk.) 
I don't know how this Word Pasta made it into the commandments.  

- "We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform."

I agree. 
But "reform" is another one of those words that the American Left has desecrated. 
Thanks to "Healthcare Reform" and "Campaign Finance Reform", the word "Reform" now means to take something and f**k it up beyond all recognition. 
How 'bout we change that commandment to "We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and therefore we favor Open Borders." 

- "And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!"

Corporations are comprised of groups of people.  They're sure as hell taxed like they're people.  And, to a lesser extent, they can be sued like people. 
Women have a right to their own bodies, because they are people. 
People do have a right to their bodies. 
It follows that people have a right to the goods and services produced by their bodies and minds.   
Therefore, no individual or corporation should be in charge of providing healthcare, child support, income tax withholding, Social Security contributions, Medicare, Medicaid, or 40 acres and a mule to anyone. 
Putting companies in between people and government (for tax withholding, etc.) is a structure that began as one of FDR's many wartime mistakes, and it should end now. 

And the main tenet of conservatives' philosophy, according to Warren? "I got mine. The rest of you are on your own."

And Elizabeth Warren's philosophy is "You got yours.  And I want it." 
Go here to read about Warren's support for the Corporate Welfare Bank. 

God Almighty, I'm glad I got this out of my system. 

BTW, the Libertarian movement only has two real commandments - "Don't hit people and don't take their stuff." 

 

One Obama paragraph. Five errors.

I've been very, very busy at work, so I haven't been posting much on this site.  I've been producing things that other people want.  I produce things that people voluntarily give their money for. 

The president of the United States has been very busy too.  But he takes things by force. 

Fortunately for the nation, Barack Obama has disadvantages that I (and many others) don't have. 

You see, we're not burdened by being totally full of shit. 

Here's a recent Barack speech, in italics. 

"You'll hear if you watch the nightly news or you read the newspapers that, well, there's gridlock, Congress is broken, approval ratings for Congress are terrible.  And there's a tendency to say, a plague on both your houses. 

And I take pride in being the Point Man for Tarrant County, Texas, for many of those who say "a plague on both your houses".  Both houses spend other peoples' money like drunk cowboys.  Both sides support the Drug War, they've supported the War on Gays, the War on Brown People, etc., etc., etc.  My side doesn't. 

But the truth of the matter is that the problem in Congress is very specific.  We have a group of folks in the Republican Party who have taken over who are so ideologically rigid, who are so committed to an economic theory that says if folks at the top do very well then everybody else is somehow going to do well;

Name ONE "economic theorist" who says that if "the folks at the top" (and they're centered around D.C.) do well, then EVERYBODY ELSE is going to do well.  Name one.  Barack, I will kiss your ass on the White House steps, and give you 30 minutes to draw a crowd beforehand, if you can produce the economic theorists who claim that if the folks at the top are doing well, then EVERYBODY ELSE will somehow do well.  There will always be some losers.  Always.  In the purest libertarian capitalist system that anyone can imagine, there will be some heartbreaking losses.  Someone, somewhere, will be the last VHS cassette manufacturer. 

BTW, here's a map of the wealthiest counties in the USA.  I'll never tire of posting it.  Barack is in the middle of that radioactive orange spot. 

....who deny the science of climate change;

Well, you got me there.  Climate is changing.  It always has.  I believe that it always will.  So does everyone else.  But I'm not going to stop flying, or hauling the nation's toilet paper around in semi-tractors.  Barack, you aren't going to stop flying either.  So please, please, please drop the posturing.  We've been through four or five Ice Ages in the past, and we're blessed to live in the gap between a couple of them now.  Enjoy it while it lasts.   

....who don't think making investments in early-childhood education makes sense;

Here's an analysis of the Government Accounting Office's study that proved that investment in early-childhood education don't make sense (when government is the party making the investments).  Most caring people in America have heard of this study.  Read it, for God's sake....

who have repeatedly blocked raising a minimum wage so if you work full-time in this country you're not living in poverty.... 

If, if, if....If, if, if....  That's like saying "if you get lucky enough as a low-skilled victim of public schools and the legal system and the drug war, you're not living in poverty."  We have a horrifying number of unemployed minority teens in this country.  They are unemployed because the minimum wage is too high.  The only alternative to that view is to believe that employers are now more racist than they were 70 years ago. 

...who scoff at the notion that we might have a problem with women not getting paid for doing the same work that men are doing.

I scoff at that notion.  I repeat....  I scoff at that notion.  And if you are honest, so will you.  Think of your workplace.  Think of someone who does your exact job, with your exact experience level, and your exact output, and your exact level of training. 

Thought of that person yet?  No?  Well, you never will.  He or she doesn't exist.  That's why this segment of Barack's Inequality Crusade is a red herring.  It's a feast for lawyers and the government's regulatory munchkins. 

Also, if you adjust for hours worked and education, women make virtually the same as men.  Barack's Pajama Boys pulled that 77% number out of their asses. 

So there you have it.  One paragraph of a Barack Obama speech.  Five misrepresentations of reality.  He could've said that Republicans are superstitious homophobes.  Well, maybe.  He could've said that they're scared of people with different skin colors from theirs.  Well, yeah, but so are Democrats.  Barack could've said that Republicans are Crony Capitalists of the worst possible sort, and I woulda stood on my coffee table and cheered. 

There's so much low-hanging fruit out there, just waiting on a politician like Barack to reach up and pluck it. 

He can't even do that properly. 

Sorry for the anger in this post.  But I'm so tired of that man.  I've spent a long, long day trying to hire and train victims of our public schools who first became victims of the Welfare State, who then became victims of the Drug War, and who then later became victims of "the helping professions" in government social work bureaucracies.  The system depresses me and terrifies me. 

Good night. 

The New York Times Should Raise Its Price By 50% Between Now And 2016

How do you get people to purchase more of something?  According to the New York Holy Times, you raise the price. 

How do you make yourself more attractive to employers?  Keep raising your requested wage until someone says "I'll hire you". 

How do you increase employment?  According to the New York Holy Times, you put an added burden on people who purchase labor. 

Good God in heaven.....

Go here.  They've come out with another editorial demanding that the minimum wage be increased by some random amount yet to be determined. 

HOW HIGH SHOULD IT BE? There’s no perfect way to set the minimum wage, but the most important benchmarks — purchasing power, wage growth and productivity growth — demonstrate that the current $7.25 an hour is far too low. They also show that the proposed increase to $10.10 by 2016 is too modest.

You're damn right, there's no perfect way.  There is no way. 

I want to be paid as much as possible for my labor.  Employers want to pay as little as possible.  That varies from person to person, industry to industry, and enterprise to enterprise.  And the last humans on earth that I would want to determine that rate?  The New York Holy Times Editorial Board, Barack Obama, and the U.S. Congress.  The "perfect" rate will be determined by political considerations, not economic ones. 

I'm not going to rant about the racist origins of minimum wage legislation.  (Google the Davis-Bacon Acts.) 

I'm not going to rant about the obvious fact that if your skills aren't worth $10.10 per hour, it'll be illegal for you to work. 

I'm just going to ask the New York Times to raise it's price by 50% between now and 2016.  It will help sales.  600 economists have said so. 

One last thing.....

One of the favorite talking points that these guys like to trot out goes like this....   "If wages had kept pace with productivity, workers would be earning 43.07% more per hour."

Here's their chart.

That's probably an accurate chart. 

The other chart, the one they don't show, reveals that the iPhone in the typical minimum wageworker's pocket, would have cost 3.1 MILLION dollars in 1991. 

Is there anyone who thinks that the world would be better if cell phone prices were in line with worker productivity? 

200 years ago, something like 98% of us had to work on farms.  Food was a massive percentage of everyone's budget.  Do you with that your food costs reflect the increase in worker productivity, just out of fairness? 

God, they make me crazy. 

 

A Socratic Dialogue on The Minimum Wage

Lawrence W. Reed of the Foundation For Economic Education (God, wouldn't the world be better if Obama had taken some online courses there) has reared back and thrown out a gem of a post about the minimum wage. 

It's in the form of a Socratic Dialogue. 

I try to do this on Facebook all the time, with varying degrees of success, mostly because my FB friends get pissed and declare that I don't care about poor people and then the dialogue ends when I point out that they don't pay people a freakin' dime more than they have to because I've watched how they tip their bartenders and then we all unfriend each other. 

I'm scraping the whole thing here, just in case the FEE website goes bankrupt or something.  This thing mirrors so many conversations and blog entries I've written on this dismal subject, but does it so much better. 

Socrates: So you want to raise the minimum wage. Why?

Congressman: Because as President Obama says, minimum wage workers haven’t had a raise in five years.

Socrates: Can you name one single worker who was making $7.25 five years ago who is still making $7.25 today? And if you can’t, then please tell me what caused their wage to rise if Congress didn’t do it. Come on, can you name just one?

Congressman: I don’t happen to have a name on me, but they must be out there somewhere.

Socrates: Well, we’ve just been through a deep recession because successive administrations from both parties, plus you lawmakers and your friends at the Fed, created a massive bubble and jawboned banks to extend easy credit. The bust forced many businesses to cut back or close. Now we have the weakest recovery in decades as ever-higher taxes, regulations, and Obamacare stifle growth. No wonder people are hurting! Do you take any responsibility for that, or do you just issue decrees that salve your guilty conscience?

Congressman: That’s water over the dam. I’m looking to the future.

Socrates: But how can you see even six months into a murky future when you refuse to look into the much clearer and more recent past? You guys think the world starts when a problem arises, as if you’re incapable of analyzing the problem’s origin. Maybe that’s why you rarely solve a problem; you just set everybody up to repeat it. If you really look to the future, then why didn’t you see this situation coming?

Congressman: Look, in any event, $7.25 just isn’t enough for anybody to live on. Workers must have more to meet their basic needs.

Socrates: An employer doesn’t have anything to pay an employee except what he first gets from paying customers. I wonder, whose "needs" do you consider when you decide to buy or not to buy: the workers’ or your own? Have you ever offered to pay more than the asking price just to help out the guy who made the product? And if customers like you won’t do that, where do you expect the employer to get the money?

Congressman: That’s not a fair question. My intent here is purely to help.

Socrates: Sounds to me like the answer is "no," but let’s move on. Why do you assume your intentions mean more to a worker than those of his employer? It’s the employer who’s taking the risk to offer him a job, not you. You’re only making speeches about it. Don’t you see a little hypocrisy here—you, who are personally offering no one a job, self-righteously criticizing others who are actually creating jobs and paying wages even if they’re not all at a wage you like?

Congressman: Employers are interested only in profits.

Socrates: Are you saying employees are not? Are they more interested in working for companies that lose money, and if so, then why don’t they all line up for government jobs?

Congressman: Well, we lose money here in government every year and there are plenty of people who are happy to work for us.

Socrates: You have a printing press. You also have a legal monopoly on force. When you borrow in the capital markets, you shove yourself to the head of the line at everybody else’s expense. Are you saying these are good things and that we’d be better off if the private sector could do these things too? Try to keep up with me here.

Congressman: I repeat, employers are interested only in profits. People before profits, I say! I even have a bumper sticker on my car that says that.

Socrates: So are you saying that employers would be better people if, instead of seeking profits, they tried to break even or run at a loss? How does that add value to the economy or encourage risk-takers to start a business in the first place?

Congressman: You’re trying to belittle me but I went to a state university. All of my sociology, political science and gender studies professors told us that raising the minimum wage is good.

Socrates: Were any of those tenured, insulated, and government-funded pontificators actual job-creating, payroll tax-paying entrepreneurs themselves, ever?

Congressman: That’s beside the point.

Socrates: (Sigh.) Figures.

Congressman: Look, $10.10 isn’t much. I think you must be mean-spirited and greedy if you don’t want people to be paid at least $10.10.

Socrates: Yeah, like you guys in government check your personal ambitions at the door when you take office. I’d like to know how you arrived at that number. Was it some sophisticated equation, divine revelation or toss of the dice? Why didn’t you choose $20.00, which is not only a nice round number but also a lot more generous?

Congressman: Well, $20.00 would be too high, for sure. Too much of a jump at once.

Socrates: It sounds like you think the cost of labor might indeed affect the demand for it. Good! That’s progress. You’re not as oblivious about market forces as I thought. What I want to know is why you apparently don’t think higher labor costs matter when you raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. Do you think everyone, regardless of skill level or experience, is automatically worth what Congress decrees? Do you believe in magic, too? How about tooth fairies?

Congressman: Now hold on a minute. I’m for the worker here.

Socrates: Then why on earth would you favor a law that says if a worker can’t find a job that pays at least $10.10 per hour, he’s not allowed to work?

Congressman: I’m not saying he can’t work! I’m saying he can’t be paid less than $10.10!

Socrates: I thought we were making progress, but perhaps not. Can you tell me, if your scheme becomes law, what happens to a worker whose labor is worth only, say, $8.10 because of his low skills, lack of education, scant experience, or a low demand for the work itself? Will employers happily employ him anyway and take a $2.00 loss for every hour he’s on the job?

Congressman: Businesses need workers and $2.00 isn’t much, so common sense and decency would suggest that of course they would.

Socrates: So employers who employ people are too greedy to pay $10.10 unless they’re ordered to, but then when Congress acts, they suddenly become generous enough to hire people at a loss. Who was your logic instructor?

Congressman: Can we hurry this up? I’ve got other plans for other people I have to think about.

Socrates: I give up. You congressmen are incorrigible. You’re the only people on whom my teaching method has no discernible impact.

Congressman: You ask too many questions.

At this point, in utter frustration, Socrates drinks the hemlock. The congressman votes to price many of the nation’s most vulnerable employees out of work and gets reelected.
Whoever warned us to beware of Greeks bearing gifts apparently never met a congressman.



 

A question about the motives of minimum wage advocates

Let's assume that there is nothing on our planet called "money". 

The only stuff that is tradable is/are goods and services. 

Yes, I'm aware that someone would come up with something like Bitcoin in a society where there was no money.  Yes, I'm aware that in a "barter only" society, for anything to happen, there must be a "double coincidence" where someone at a Coffee Bar wants to purchase some freight services (my current job, and method of making my house payment) in order for me to get a double espresso.  This "double coincidence" is unlikely.  Therefore, we need something very much like money. 

Let's assume that people in this society make stuff, or they work for other people who ensure that stuff is being made....  They trade their labor for stuff.  Skillets or fruitstands or cell phones or chicken wings are traded for backpacks and laptops and Ford F-150's and Big Macs. 

Let's assume that everyone, in this cash-less society, has some kind of skill or value. 

Let's assume that, unlike the totally insane stuff mandated by the Federal Government, the only stuff being made in this imaginary society is stuff that people really do want.  (This rules out almost everything that our government produces, BTW.  Wars, bureaucrats, congress, Cash-For-Clunkers, tens of millions of welfare babies, prisons for Drug War victims, Homeland Security assholes, military invasions of brown people, bailouts, etc., etc., et.,)

Ok, to my point.... some people in this society make fruitstands.  Some make skillets.  Some serve beer.  Some people can only plow.  Some people do computer programming, while a few mow yards.  Others are good managers of the resources of others.  In this imaginary society, everyone is always trying to match his strengths against what society needs, just in order to improve his own selfish self.   

For instance, if we really don't need another person writing Libertarian Blog Entries in this imaginary world, most people are getting out of the Libertarian Blog Entry business, and doing something else....something worthwhile, something profitable.   That's what would happen in a world that is free of government interference and subsidies and price supports, right? 

But let's assume that, in this world, there is an all-powerful government agency that sets the exchange rates for goods and services.  These government munchkins are the ones who decide how low you can go with your goods and services if you ever found yourself in a tight spot, and needed other peoples' stuff really fast.

This government entity has decided that no one should be allowed to exchange one hour of their labor in producing skillets, coffee, shoes, or Libertarian blog entries for less than.....  1/2 of one sheep, 1/4 hour of computer programming, two hours of rocket science.  Let's pretend like no one can swap one pork roast for less than 12 hours of plowing behind a pair of mules. 

Would you ask yourself about the motives about the people who put those rules in place?

Hell yes, you would.  You would ask yourself who in Congress was getting paid under the table. 

I already know who is getting paid under the table.  I can tell by the way they all vote. 

Wake up.  Please, wake up. 

Drunkblogging the State Of The Union Address

As is my custom, I will be drunkblogging the State Of The Union speech tonight. 

Obama has already signaled that he's going to raise the minimum wage for all Federal projects to $10.50 per hour, thereby guaranteeing that government will never, ever, ever do anything more efficiently than the private sector. 

He's also going to talk about getting training programs going for the long-term unemployed.  I will bet you the shriveled remains of my liver that he's going to propose more money for America's Community Colleges.  (The first president that I can remember making that proposal was Bush the Elder.  I think every president since then has followed suit in at least one SOTU speech.  I don't think anyone in the Oval Office has ever successfully implemented anything successful in our JuCo system.  But as a series of throwaway lines in a speech, it sounds great, right??) 

I'm writing this intro at work.  Gonna stop at the liquor store on the way home and get a pint of Kentucky Deluxe bourbon, just to brace myself for the horrors that this evening will bring.  The drunkblogging will all be on this same post, beginning beneath the picture, and I will update every few minutes. 

God help us all, we're in the hands of a man with delusions of adequacy.  What I wouldn't give to hear a president say "The State Of The Nation Is Good, and it's because I've decided to be the least activist president since Calvin Coolidge". 

Ok, John Boehner has entered the building....   (I'm watching this on CNN, by the way.) 

While we're waiting for Obama to show up and read what's on his Teleprompter, let me throw in a few vital charts about some of tonight's subject matter. 

Here's what the minimum wage has done to black kids, and Obama is going to try to get a few more confirmed kills of black teenagers by asking that Congress raise the minimum wage to a level higher than anyone would dream of paying to a black teenager.....

Yeah, that chart shows all teen unemployment, not just minority.  So shoot me. I couldn't find the other chart.  I'm drunkblogging this, remember? 

The Supreme Court justices just entered the building. 

CNN was talking about Willie Robertson, the star of "Duck Dynasty" being in the room.  Jake Tapper had to interrupt to say that Joe "The Gaffer" Biden showing up.  CNN got back to Willie Robertson ASAP.  LOL.  Lots and lots of Congressmen are going out of their way to have pictures made shaking hands with Willie Robertson.  I don't know if anyone is falling over himself to get a pic made breathing the same air as Biden. 

I really hope that The Teleprompter Jesus has the nerve to talk about Global Warming.  The entire Gulf Coast, from Texas through New Orleans and Mississippi is iced in.  NEW ORLEANS is having traffic problems because of the ice and snow.  NEW ORLEANS.  The icy weather goes all the way into Virginia. 

They just showed former Saturday Night Live comedian and current Senator Al Franken.  And I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. 

They just showed a zoom shot of  Kentucky Senator and Pork King Mitch McConnell.  I just threw up in my mouth a little more. 

Now they're showing closeups of Willie Robertson, star of "Duck Dynasty".  For the benefit of readers in Europe and Asia, this is Willie Robertson....

He's the star of a reality TV show about a family that has made millions by manufacturing duck calls. 
For the benefit of readers in Europe and Asia, this is a duck call.  Hunters use them to lure ducks within shotgun range. 

Willie Robertson has done far more for the country than Barack Obama.  He's created things that people want, and he didn't steal any of the money used to do it. 

John Boehner is calling the session of Congress to order. 

Dr. Jill Biden (she's made a career out of studying what the hell is wrong with Joe) has now entered the room.  Michelle should be next....

I was wrong. The Supreme Court Justices are next.   Ruth Bader-Ginsburg looks like she might not make it to the beginning of the Rodham administration....

Ok, now Michelle has entered the room, to riotous applause.  I wish Sasha and Malia were there.  By all accounts, the Obamas are raising a fine pair of young ladies. 

Here comes the cabinet.  John Kerry is there with his long face.  Chuck Hagel.  Susan Rice.  Soon-to-be-indicted Eric Holder (we can only hope). 

They're talking about who didn't show up from the Supreme Court.... Alito, Scalia and Thomas.  Alito has apparently chosen NOT to be caught on TV mumbling that the Leader Of The Free World is full of bovine excrement...

I haven't mentioned yet that Obama is probably going to spend some time tonight defending Obamacare.  What's goofy is that there now are more people without insurance than there were before the implementation of Obamacare.   And what, exactly, was the point of Obamacare???

They're zooming in on Kathleen Sibelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, the department that totally screwed up the U.S. medical system. 

John Boehner and Joe Biden are standing at the podium, acting like they are anything other than political whores. 

A brief side note.....  My mother-in-law moved in with me several months ago.  She has some Evan Williams bourbon in one of the kitchen cabinets.  She would never drink it, but uses is for cooking. 
I don't think I bought enough Kentucky Deluxe to get me through the task at hand.  Should I get into it? 

The really long answer is.... YES.  Obama just entered the building, and your elected representatives are falling all over each other to shake hands with him.  God help us all. 

I'll replace the Evan Williams tomorrow.  Desperate times demand desperate measures. 

Ok, I just checked my Statcounter.  This blog post is going out on a couple of Twitter feeds.  Gotta bring my "A Game". 

Obama is bringing up a teacher.  An entrepreneur.  And an autoworker.  He's going to say that because of them, the STATE OF THE NATION IS GOOD. 

No, that didn't happen.  Don't presidents usually begin their speech by stating that "The State Of The Nation Is Good"??

He said that the Autoworker helped "wean us off foreign oil".  Who gives a shit if we're using foreign oil, U.S oil, or oil that's imported from Hogwarts???  Oil is fungible.  (Look it up).  Presidents have been using that foreign oil line since freakin' Nixon.  Fools always applaud it.   

They just cut to a shot of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.  I just threw up in my mouth a little more, and some escaped to the front of my shirt. 

He just slammed Ted Cruz's puny little government shutdown of some national parks, and got some huge applause. 

He said that we've had some severe cuts to education.  Horseshit, Horseshit, Horseshit.  We've got the most overfunded education system we coulda dreamed of.  Teachers are retiring with full benefits before they hit 55 years old.  That ain't sustainable. 

Godalmighty, I'm sick of this man's voice. 

He's blaming his problems on Globalization and technological advances.  Corporations are making money.   Inequality has deepened.  Too many Americans are working too hard just to get by. 

He doesn't mention that it's because we're having to spend 1/3 of our money on his government- mandated bullshit. 

Michelle is getting a Standing -O just because he said her name.  She's brought down childhood obesity rates. 

So why in the hell does this dumb bastard subsidize the leading causes of obesity - sugar, wheat, corn, rice, and other carbohydrates? 

He just stood up for "marriage equality" - a position he didn't hold until last year. 

He just mentioned that John Boehner's father was a bartender. 

And that he, his own glorious self, was the son of a single mother. 

He wants to restore that promise of the American Dream.  He's lying.  He's still going to keep screwing things up.  He's going to keep glorifiying bartenders and single moms while vilifying entrepreneurs. 

Now he's yapping about creating tax incentives for companies that keep jobs in the USA.  We have the 2nd highest corporate tax rates in the free world.  He's lying about those tax incentives.  He'll do without that money right about the time he stops smoking. 

He's talking about creating manufacturing jobs.  He's not mentioning that his Labor Relations Board stopped Boeing from opening a new plant in the Carolinas. 

Ok, this is the part of the State Of The Union address that I always hate the most....  he knows that free trade is the way to go, but he wants to subsidize everyone who can't compete with free traders.  Pick a side, Barack, pick a side.  Be a Luddite or a Free Trader.  Pick a side.   

Now, on to the next worst thing....   The glorification of small businesses.  I like me some small businesses.  Presidents always point out that most of our job growth is from small businesses.  They say this as if it were some glorious piece of wisdeom, because it is true.  It's true for the same reason that most of the growth in forests is from trees that aren't grown yet.  Doh !!!

Now he's talking about some paper-thin material...  much like the content of this speech....

Ok, on to the "energy independence" clichés.  Can you imagine the president of, say, Spain, talking about "energy independence"?  Ever heard The Vatican spokesperson deliver a rant about "energy independence"? 
Since when does this fake self-reliance show strength?  We need energy independence like we need microchip independence, or like the people in your household need to manufacture their own soap or shirts or deodorant or dog food.  We are strongest when we can get the best possible deals at the lowest price.  It's called "comparative advantage" and "competitive advantage" and everyone who passed Economics 101 knows this.  (Obama failed this class at Occidental College.  Look it up.)

I knew he would do it!  I KNEW HE WOULD DO IT !!  Everything from Texas to New Orleans to Washington D.C. is snowed in and iced in, and THE STUPID SON OF A BITCH BROUGHT UP GLOBAL WARMING !!!!  HE'S TALKING ABOUT GOING SOLAR.   HE'S TALKING ABOUT WHAT HE'S GOING TO DO TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING !!!  We're in a situation where the warmest part of the USA is snowed in and he's talking about Al Gore's con game.  God loves me so much.  I know it because she let me be alive to hear this crap. 

GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY I LOVE BEING ALIVE SO I CAN HEAR THIS DAMN FOOL STAND AT THE PODIUM AND SPEAK !!!! 

Barack Obama, much like his supporters, has no sense of irony.  The entire Southeast is snowed in, and he just said "Climate Change is a fact".  Does he not own a thermometer?

He's talking about the rescue of our automakers.  That's like rescuing Blockbuster Video.

Ok, on to immigration. I do love me some immigrants.  Maybe something good can happen here....?

Never mind.  They just showed a closeup of Chuck Schumer.  I just threw up in my mouth a bit, and it went projectile.  Threw up all over the den. 

He's going to bring up America's Community Colleges.  He's going to bring up America's Community Colleges....

He just asked Joe Biden to train workers to fit the jobs that need to be filled.  This is the same clown that he asked to ensure that no stimulus money would be mis-spent....

Here it comes.... America's Community Colleges.... Say it, Barack, say it....

Dammit, he's not going to do it.  He's moved on to Unemployment Insurance. 

Unemployment Insurance is much needed because of Obama's policies that punish success. 

(A quick proposal....  Lower the corporate tax rate to zero.  Cut the number of government employees by 1/3rd.  Watch the USA grow like a weed.) 

O God.  He's into education.  Here's my favorite chart.  Spending has tripled, and test results have flatlined.....

Dammit, I think I deserve some credit for getting this dismal crap posted so quickly.  Hit the ads on my website, ok???

He's babbling about high-quality Pre-K funding, despite the fact that government studies have shown that any advantages provided by Operation Headstart disappear by the 2nd freakin' grade.

OMG....  here go the rants about how to guarantee that "no American middle-class kid is priced out of a college education".  Government subsidies of college educations are the #1 reason that college educations are expensive.  Subsidize something, and it's more expensive.  You learn that in Econ 101.  Barack flunked that class at Occidental.   

On to gender equality.  This man is a lying son of a bitch.  Women with the same education as men, and who work as many hours as men, make as much money as men. 

Here's the most damning contradiction in this fool's speech....  He just finished talking about gender inequality in wages, and followed it up by saying that women ought to be able to have a kid, or take care of her kid, without sacrificing her job.  So....who you gonna hire? Who are you gonna pay the most? 

BTW, there's  more gender inequality in Barack's White House than there is in our society in general.  Will throw some links in here later on.  He pays his men a lot more than his women.  Will find it later.

Some pizza guy just gave his employees a raise to $10.00 per hour. 

You know why?  Because they were worth it. 

I'm trying to raise two of my employees to $13 and $14 per hour. 

You know why?  Because they are worth it. 

Now Barack is going to raise ALL Federal employee contractor rates to $10.10 per hour. 

You know why?  Because it will get him votes and applause. 

He's encouraging every employer to give out raises.  You know what?  Next time you're at the grocery store, pay more than you have to.  Pay $20.00 for your newspaper.  Pay $10.00 for a gallon of gasoline.  Do silly shit, just to feel good about yourself. 

New subject....

Tomorrow, Barack is going to create a new way to save for retirement???   A new program called My IRA  ???

Hell, I thought Social Security was supposed to do that.  WTF WTF WTF ????

Christ almighty riding sidesaddle on a Shetland pony.  What is he talking about??  I can't wait to read the spin on that tomorrow. 

 Here's the good part... He's going to defend Obamacare, which just might have created a situation where we have fewer Americans insured than we did before it's implementation. 

Thanks to Obamacare, no American can be turned away by an insurance company for a pre-existing condition.  That's like saying nobody whose house has been burned down can be turned away by a homeowners insurance company.  I know that sounds harsh, but that's the dude's logic. 

Gonna take a break.  Gotta get some Evan Williams. 

Obama just issued a throwdown to Republicans to come up with an alternative to Obamacare. 
If the Republicans need help, they can go here.  I wrote it myself....

Voting Rights Act. 

Citizenship. 

Cliches. 

Gun Violence.  I wonder if Barack is aware that Eric Holder masterminded a program called "Fast And Furious" where we sent a buttload of high caliber weapons into Mexico to see what would happen?  And Federal Agents got killed with them?

Military.  Automatic standing ovation.  We have 6% of the world's population and 45% of the military spending.  Yeah, they're good people, but hell, how much military do you want to pay for? 

He says our longest war (Afghanistan) will soon finally be over.  He's lying.  Our longest war is Richard Nixon's War On Drugs, which he still chooses to fight.  BTW, has anyone noticed any increased in criminality in Colorado or Washington state?  The two states that recently legalized weed? 

Holy crap... the man is acting as if he finally understands that our presence overseas just might create more terrorists.  He's capable of learning!!  He's capable of learning!!!  Helen Keller's teacher probably felt this way when she got Keller to understand the concept of "water". 

"American Diplomacy has rallied more than 50 countries to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands."  Bullshit.  Barack Obama, John Kerry, Hillary and others have access to nuclear materials.  Anyone thinking that those are good hands, well, they probably need to read a lot more. 

They just showed a closeup of Robert Menendez, the congressman of underage Caribbean prostitute fame.  I just threw up all over my laptop.  You people owe me. 

Something about keeping Iran from getting nukes.  The bourbon is weighing heavy on me, and Barack's voice is weighing heavier.  The cadence he uses, his sentence structure, all of it is so freakin' tiresome....

OMG.... his favorite clutchphrase..... "Let me be clear". 

He's still talking about Iran and nukes.  Do I detect some saber-rattling here?  Are we gonna have boots on the ground sometime soon?  

CNN just zoomed in on Jason Collins, the NBA's first openly gay player.  I'm all for marriage equality, gay rights, and getting government out of marriage.  But why in the hell is Jason Collins in the halls of Congress for this speech?  Obama only finished "evolving" on the gay marriage issue last year.  WTF?  WTF? WTF? 

Something about veterans getting the healthcare that they need, and getting jobs.  How about leaving them in the USA, you bastard?  Let's not cripple and maim so many of them.  Let's stop creating terrorists.  The military-industrial complex is killing more people than the muslims.  End it, end it, end it all. 

The soldier sitting by Michelle is getting a shout-out.  He was injured, but is learning to speak and walk again.  This pitiful little political hack is going to make a political point, comparing himself, and his programs, and his agenda to this wounded soldier.  I can't believe what the f**k I just heard. 

Standing ovation from Congress.  What a cheap, smarmy little bastard we have filling the shoes of Washington, Jefferson, Taft and Coolidge. 

I'm going to spend the rest of the night praying for the damnation of The Republic.  "

Now he's into the "Teachable Moments" of his speech.  He's still comparing his agenda to the recovery of the wounded soldier. 

I'm going to go into my bathroom and finish throwing up. 

"God bless you, and God bless the United States Of America". 

I'm done.  Hope I never have to watch anything that manipulative again.  

Predictions for 2014

Let's get into some serious prophecy for 2014

1)  The Obamacare rollout (sic) will be a disaster.  Nobody will know who does and who doesn't have insurance.  The Idiot will continue to finesse the program based on polling. 

2) Unfortunately, the Republican Party will have one hell of an election in November.  They're going to take the senate. 

3) The Dallas Cowboys will not win a playoff game.  Head coach Jason Garrett will be fired. 

4) The Libertarian Party will win some down-ballot races in rural Texas. 

5) I'll get down to about 190 pounds. 

6) Jesus will not return to earth to begin his 10,000 year reign as predicted in the Book Of Revelation. 

7) It'll get colder.  Warmists will panic. 

8) We will have a minimum wage increase.  Minority teen employment rates will continue to fall. 

9) U.S. troops will hit the ground in some new and exciting place.  Not because we're needed, not because it's any of our business, but because that's where the money is for contractors. 

10) Barack will continue to make noise about income inequality.  He will neglect to mention the staggering income differences between the worst neighborhood in Fort Worth, Texas, as compared to the best neighborhood in, say, Eritrea.  That's because citizens of Eritrea can't vote in our elections. 

Now that I have all the negativity and cynicism out there, let's hope it's a great year !! 

Pictures. Posters. Memes. Facebook Statuses. Post-Thanksgiving edition

It's been a long holiday weekend, and I've taken a break from getting pissed off from reading accounts of the Obamacare debacle, the looming doctor shortage, the unemployment rate and all the other things that make up my media diet. 

So here are some funny and pithy pics that I've been saving for the last month or so. 

 

 

Look this one up for the full-size version at HiddenSecretsOfMoney.com 

The clown in the White House is now advocating raising the minimum wage to ten bucks an hour, BTW....

 

Are there any major problems not caused by government?

Gallup periodically surveys Americans about the worst problems facing the nation.  They divide the questions between economic and social issues. 

Here are the top economic concerns. 

Let's start at the top.  What caused our current economic doldrums?  Was it the policies of Bush or Obama?  Or does it go all the way back to Alexander Freakin' Hamilton wanting a strong central bank?  For today's purposes, let's say that the economic slump was caused by government. 

Number two on the list is our staggering debt level.  Which organization caused the Federal debt?  Starbucks?  The Koch brothers?  Wal-Mart?  Fox News?  Nope.  The government. 

Number three is unemployment and jobs.  If there were no minimum wage, all labor markets would clear.  There would be something for everyone to do, with the exception of the handicapped, disabled, and Keynesian economists.  Prices for everything would drop.  It happens that way with every other commodity, and labor is no exception. 

Number four.  Lack of money?  Hell, Ben Bernanke is print another 65 billion dollars every month !! There's plenty of money!!  Perhaps those surveyed meant that money their money is now worth less and less, a problem caused by the Federal Reserve.  Or maybe they intended to say that they don't have enough money to buy certain things whose prices have skyrocketed.  Same crime, same perpetrator. 

Taxes?  That problem isn't caused by the Lions Club. 

Wage issues are usually a personal problem, not a problem necessarily caused by Washington.  There is no alternative universe where low-skilled labor is valued as much as high-skilled labor.  However, the Teleprompter Jesus and his disciples are now lobbying for a minimum wage increase that will price even more low-skilled labor out of the market.  That will make "wage issues" even more of a problem caused by government.  I know that if Obama works hard enough, he can eventually make this worse.   

There is a significant gap between the rich and poor, and it will continue to grow.  100 years ago, most of your customers, my customers, Bill Gates' customers and my readers lived within a few miles of you, me and Bill Gates.  We now reach the world.  If you're the best at what you do, the world is your oyster.  (I'm not the best, but Gates is, and you might be.)  However, there is another group of the wealthy that prospers because of theft.  15 of the 22 wealthiest counties in the US are those surrounding Washington D.C.   

Corporate corruption is not a problem caused by government.  However, government spends a fortune regulating corporations, policing the stock market, and such.  I can't think of a single episode where, say, the Securities and Exchange Commission stepped in ahead of time and prevented a Lehman Brothers or Bernie Madoff debacle. 

The others aren't enough of a concern to justify comment.  But I have to sound off on the "trade deficit".  For the 10,000th time, the trade deficit is a bogus number.  If we buy cars from Japan, we give them dollars.  They use these dollars to buy wheat.  When Japan buys wheat from the USA, they give us yen.  We use those yen to purchase cars.  It is balanced.  Nobody's ledger is in a deficit.  (There is something called the "current accounts deficit" which occurs when your politicians concern themselves with producing voters instead of goods and services.  Different problem.) 

Here are our top social concerns:

IMHO, the only two categories on this list that aren't caused by Uncle Sam are "Ethical/Moral Decline" and "Lack Of Respect For Each Other". 

Let's look at those two a little closer - moral decline and lack of respect.  Imagine a grocery store that short-changes its customers.  One where the meat goes rancid within two days of sale.  Dream up a grocery store that routinely pays employees for only 39 hours of a 45-hour week.  How long would that grocery store be in business? 

It would close within a few months.  No government intervention would be necessary.  Word gets out.  You have to respect your customers, your vendors, your employees - those who purchase your merchandise, provide your merchandise, and those whose labor your trade for.  Otherwise, you will go under.  That's how and why our various moral and ethical systems have evolved. 

Next, imagine a president who routinely lies about his policies and his intentions. 

Would you purchase anything this man is selling? 

Very few other people would buy his crap either. 

Fox News has published a different survey suggesting that "dysfunctional government" is the number one concern in the nation. 
I don't know how this is possible.
It seems that our biggest problems are caused when our government functions perfectly and can get things done.