President Saves World! Details at 10

While it is unclear whether this Administration understands how to manage the free world, they are quite adept at managing headlines. The President today called for $100 million in budget cuts, prompting the usual headlines about "fiscal responsibility" and "reform." I did the math and these proposed cuts are the equivalent to the average household cutting annual spending by 99 cents. Can you imagine a headline like "Illinoistom makes hard choices, cuts annual spending by 99 cents?" Which is why I always tell my son to read past the headlines, you might be surprised to find the truth buried in the story.

Happy Tax Day!

Nearly 50% of Americans pay no federal income tax. The top 1% of earners generate 19% of the wealth yet pay 30% of the taxes. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35% versus an average of 25% in Europe. All inconvenient truths to the current U.S. government, yet they are committed to doubling down on Federal spending to "rebuild the economy on solid rock." Say what? So you can never say I didn't warn you, I will say this as plainly as humanly possible: $1 trillion per year deficits can only be sustained by INFLATING THEM AWAY! The U.S. cannot default, it can only debase the currency, which may get rid of debt but also destroys your 401k, IRA, Social Security, or pension. The left's favorite economist, John Maynard Keynes warned of the end to free markets and capitalism by saying "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalistic System was to debauch the currency. . . Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose."

We Have Met The Enemy, And They Is Us

The law of unintended consequences has struck again in Washington. Many of us looked on nervously as the Department of Homeland Security was created as a reflexive response to 9/11. Naturally, it has morphed from an outward looking agency charged with coordinating efforts to defeat radical Islamists into a stormcrow warning that "Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning." Telltale signs to look for are: Pro Life bumper stickers, pro 2nd Amendment bumper stickers, promoting anti-taxation tea parties. Those of us who revere the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independance are finding ourselves characterized as "fringe radical conservatives," while activist groups openly pushing a socialist agenda such as ACORN describe themselves as "a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization." Interesting times, indeed.

Avast!

Finally, a bit of good news on the TV. After months of bailouts of failed corporations, failed state governments, assaults on the Constitution by our elected officials, apologies for being American by the President, and countless other insults to our collective psyche, 20 merchant seamen have made us all proud by retaking their ship from Somali pirates. I write this before the details have been released, but the first reports make me feel good about life, and the American ideal of self reliance.

Europe loves him.... should we worry?

The BBC played "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" while describing the President's G20 meetings this week. I hope they were being facetious in comparing him to Jesus. Besides the obvious policy differences, Jesus was humble, meek, yet authoritative. Obama, on the other hand, seems to revel in the spotlight, delivering soaring prepared speeches, yet stammers and stumbles while answering direct questions sans teleprompter. The Euros venerate this man while he apologizes for America, and that is fine. My hope is that no real foreign policy crisis comes during this Administration, because sophist rhetoric is no substitute for conviction and strength of will. While it may be that Obama will conduct passable foreign policy, the seeds have been sown for a weaker U.S. in embracing the notion of allowing international law to trump the Constitution in many areas. Our founding documents are America's greatest gift to the world, not things to be apologized for or undermined. I pray that the President remembers that he took an oath to defend the Constitution.

A Bridge Loan too Far

If the President had fired Ron Gettelfinger along with GM CEO Rick Wagoner, he would at least have been intellectually honest. Instead, he hoisted Wagoner's head on the pike (with a $20 million dollar parachute), while preserving the UAW as an innocent in the demise of GM. Us old free marketeers have been calling for CH 11 for GM for a year, yet successive Administrations have kept them on life support with the net result being loan defaults and layoffs culminating in de-facto bankruptcy anyways. Chrysler will be forced into a shotgun marriage with Fiat (financed by our own fiat currency). Ford may actually get their dream of a $2 dollar a gallon gas tax to force consumers to buy their high mileage cars. Depressed yet? And still, with all this federal intervention, the markets will have their way; the weak will fail, the strong will survive. The disciples of Keynes are ruling the day for now, but Smith and Friedman will still prevail in the end.

Daniel Hannan

A young MP named Daniel Hannan dared confront PM Brown, calling him The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government. What makes this noteworthy is the apoplectic reaction by the the UK and US left. They attack what they fear, and they have every reason to fear the man some are calling the next Maggie Thatcher. Now if we could just identify our next Ronald Reagan. In other news, the U.S. Congress is considering supporting failing newspapers as non-profits. Pravda and Isvestia were also non-profits for you gen Y kids out there. May God save the Republic!