December 15, 2022

Money meets the Mafia

The corruption, treason, and Mafia-like tactics of government may be finally surfacing.  They appear so widespread as to be incomprehensible to the average American.  Kash Patel refers to this behavior as "American gangsters....

September 25, 2022

Federal Reserve playing chicken with financial markets

The game of chicken, learned by most teenagers, provides a reasonable description of current financial market conditions.  The Federal Reserve is playing chicken with financial markets. Usually the game of chicken determines a winner by ...

September 23, 2022

Chairman Powell: Man of La Mancha or man of the moment?

Is Chairman Powell truly serious about stopping inflation?  Or is he merely a modern-day version of the Man of La Mancha, tilting at windmills? Something clearly seems strange.  Chairman Jerome Powell is a veteran of the econom...

September 11, 2022

High-stakes musical chairs at the Federal Reserve

Most people know about the game of musical chairs.  Musical chairs at the Federal Reserve is similar, except the loser is the one occupying the chair when the music stops.  I believed that Ben Bernanke would win this game back whe...

August 4, 2022

The Federal Reserve -- Help or Hindrance?

Economists have debated the causes of the Great Depression since its occurrence. Central to these discussions has been the role of the Federal Reserve. Has it been positive or negative? Similar questions pertain to current economic policies. The e...

July 28, 2022

The Church of the Federal Reserve is Here to Save Us

The Church of the Federal Reserve opened its tent for quarterly services this week. Pastor Jerome Powell played the role of Elmer Gantry, a role previously filled by others in the economics profession. Like the charlatans before him, he claimed the F...

May 28, 2019

Time to Pay the Piper

“Time to pay the piper” is an appropriate phrase for what I hope lies ahead in Washington, D.C. The investigation of President Trump failed to find any collusion (or obstruction). The Democrats' hero Robert Mueller and his team of ...

March 24, 2018

'Drain the Swamp' Becomes 'Remove the Cancer'

It is easy to dismiss Donald Trump's "Drain the Swamp" rhetoric as a campaign gimmick.  Many believed that's all it was.  Clearly, it was a message never before heard from an elected politician. Even when he w...

January 16, 2017

Martin Luther King Day and Obama’s legacy

Today is Martin Luther King Day.  Some Americans still resent the fact that he received a holiday named in his honor.  These people used to be called racist, and likely they still exist.  However, there is another group of people who r...

November 30, 2016

The Obama legacy

Nothing sums up the Obama legacy better than this quote from Edward Luce of the Financial Times: It will be as if Mr Obama was never here. Can there be a more concise judgment? History will remember Barack Obama as th...

April 27, 2015

Government versus Anarchy and Production versus Plunder

Most people accept government as if it were a normal part of their lives and the economy.  They know no better and have no sense of history. Government is a trade-off between production and plunder.  The more government, the greater the ...

October 22, 2014

President Doofus

Doofus is an unusual but appropriate appellation for President Barack Hussein Obama. What Is A Doofus? "Doofus" is slang referring to a boob, for which the thesaurus lists the following synonyms -- idiot, nitwit, dunce, fath...

October 1, 2014

Government Desperation Is Increasing

Government beneficence is mostly a myth based on the following assumptions: It is necessary. It is good. It makes outcomes better than they otherwise would be. Point number one, the necessity of government, is true up to a point. There...

September 11, 2014

The Democrats' (and Media's) Obama Problem

The Democratic Party and the mainstream media joined to run interference for Barack Obama when he became a national figure. Obama was painted as a charismatic, competent, new kind of politician. The passage of time destroyed this image. Now, the...

July 29, 2014

Government Is Destroying our Standard of Living

Finally, the change in net worth has made the mainstream media. The statistics, as reported in the NY Times, are horrific, as are the implications for the future of the country. Net worth may be the best single measure of ...

November 20, 2012

Economic Disintegration is Almost Here

The disintegration of an economy and a society can take two courses. One course is like rust. It is slow and barely perceptible. The other is a sudden collapse. The first course, if left untended, eventually  turns into the second. The US econom...

November 8, 2012

Obama's Election Seals Our Fate

The Obama re-election dooms the country.  It ensures that his philosophy will be imposed for another four years. His election ensures the continuing shift away from the Rule of Law, property rights, free men, and free markets.  Obama's vis...

November 5, 2012

The Election Will Not Be Close

The election is tomorrow.  The entire buildup to this point has been somewhat surreal.  The pollsters tell us that the election is too close to call, but that does not conform with reality. It is easy to distort reality based on predisposit...

October 22, 2012

Obama's Problem: Reality Bites

President Barack Obama's popularity is disintegrating faster than his credibility. Less than a month ago his re-election seemed assured. Today the election looks like it has shifted dramatically in favor of Romney. Mitt Romney is not Obama's problem,...

October 10, 2012

How Does a President Quit?

What does a politician, deeply involved in a campaign, do if he wants to quit?  That may be the issue Barack Obama is dealing with.  A few months ago, everything looked rosy.  The Republican Party nominated the man he wanted to run aga...

October 8, 2012

Why Obama Will Lose All Three Debates

President Obama had a terrible debate last week.  Supporters and opponents were shocked that he could be so off his game.  They shouldn't have been.  That they were indicates that they don't understand Obama's serious, likely insurmoun...

September 17, 2012

One Election Away from Tragedy

For the last thirty-plus years, each election has been described by pundits as "the most important election in history."  Finally this claim is no longer hyperbole. Elections can be important, but they should not be "game-changers." For the firs...

September 10, 2012

Bob Woodward Inadvertently Confirms The Coming Economic Apocalypse

Bob Woodward has yet another book coming out, and the consummate Washington insider provides us with a glimpse of what's in it. In doing so, he inadvertently confirms what so many internet pundits have been warning about -- an economic catastrophe of...

August 20, 2012

The Government Is Bankrupt and Will Destroy the Economy

Most people don't understand the unsolvable problem the U.S. government has created for itself and its citizens.  Sovereign default is beyond a likelihood; it is inevitable. When and which (possibly all) obligations are defaulted on will be dete...

May 30, 2012

Obama Will Not Win Re-election

It is time to call the 2012 election.  President Obama cannot win.  He will likely lose big, in a very lopsided election.  Pundits will claim to be surprised when the outcome becomes apparent.  They should not be, as the signs of ...

April 2, 2012

Who Shrank The President?

President Obama has had lots of bad weeks in his tenure.  None has been as bad as last week. Charles Hurt discussed Obama's week: So, in one week, Mr. Obama got caught whispering promises to our enemy, incited a race war, raised serious questio...

February 15, 2012

Impeach Them All

The US Government continues actions that will result in its own demise. That might seem fitting, except that its failure will seriously harm the citizenry. Government decisions and actions have assured an economic collapse that will result in another...

January 27, 2012

Why America Hates Its Politicians So Much

Another State of the Union speech has come and gone.  These speeches are predictable, useless, boring, and purely political. Supporters of the party in power rave about matters such as "vision," "compassion," "fairness," and "the future."  ...

January 26, 2012

The Social Welfare State, Compassion, and Political Self-Interest

The siren song of Socialism contains the seeds of destruction that now threaten the very foundations of civilization.  Socialism as a disease progresses slowly, but it has been underway for more than a hundred years.  The malignancy is now ...

December 29, 2011

The Ant and The Grasshopper -- An Allegory For The Country

Absurdity is often an excellent way to make a point. Aesop thought so when he created the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. But just how much of a fable was it? This email updates Aesop's attempt at absurdity. Unfortunately for the country, other...

December 15, 2011

Freedom Lost

Freedom has been disappearing in this country since its founding. In recent decades, the deterioration of rights and protections has accelerated so much so that even basic freedoms are endangered. The process by which freedom is lost is not compl...

December 9, 2011

Government of The Elites, By The Elites and For The Elites

In the short span of a century and a half, the US went from a government famously described by Abraham Lincoln as "of the people, by the people, for the people" to one "of the Elites, by the Elites, for the Elites." Albert J. Noc...

December 6, 2011

Government Gone Wild

Our economic problems rightfully dominate the news.  However, they are merely symptoms of a bigger, underlying problem: government. For many, the previous paragraph is heresy.  They "know" that government is necessary and good.  They "...

October 31, 2011

Slouching toward the 1930s

The current economic crisis rivals the one of the 1930s.  Despite shameless propaganda by government and its cronies in the media, people understand that the situation is getting worse.  Consumer confidence continues to decline as does conf...

October 12, 2011

The Obama Problem

The Obama Problem is simple to explain but impossible to solve.  The problem is Obama himself, and most people not named Barack or Michelle understand that. President Obama's political career is in free-fall.  He will not be reelected....

September 21, 2011

Will Scandal Drive Obama Off the 2012 Ticket?

(See also: Solving the Democrats' Obama Problem) President Obama will not run in 2012.  That prediction seems reasonable in light of the following: His presidency is in shambles, shriveling up before our eyes. His political poll numbers con...

September 17, 2011

Keynesian Economics as The Anti-Economics

While reading an article from Mish on housing, two of his passages struck me: You can temporarily jump-start nearly anything if you throw enough money at it, and that is exactly what Keynesian clown fools want to do. Unfortunately, n...

September 15, 2011

The Obama Legacy

Let the rationalizations begin, but they will be unable to hide reality. President Obama is in a political wreck. Democrat careers are on the line in the upcoming election. Most will be distancing themselves from their once-great meal ticket.  T...

August 29, 2011

Warren Buffet: Financial Savior or Angel of Doom?

The dire financial condition of the US has not been altered by Warren Buffet's recently announced investment in Bank of America (BAC).  His participation should not be read as a sign that either Bank of America or the economy is improving. ...

August 24, 2011

Kevorkian Economics

The bloated, self-serving political class can usefully be understood as parasites feeding off the private sector of the economy.  As the economy spirals toward collapse and the government toward bankruptcy, the necessity of spending cuts and dow...

August 19, 2011

Political Parisitology

On Thursday, the Dow was off about 500 points in the first hour, presumably based on fears of European bank and sovereign failures. The talking heads on CNBC were beside themselves, rationalizing what was happening and what should be done -- the Fede...

August 9, 2011

The Keynesian Fraud

Keynesian economics is a fraud.  It has neither theoretical coherence nor empirical support.  It was adopted out of desperation in the 1930s. Many contemporary economists of the time protested that the fundamentals of the theory were incorr...

July 25, 2011

Is Your IRA Going To Be Raided?

The notion of government raiding personal retirement accounts for funds may seem extreme.  Perhaps it shouldn't.  Other governments have done it.  Argentina did in 2008.  Ireland has indicated it might.  The worsening financi...

July 14, 2011

The Debt Ceiling Charade

The circus surrounding the debt ceiling makes interesting theater but all the babble is irrelevant.  How the debt ceiling is eventually resolved only changes the timing and extent of the economic collapse.  In that sense, it has no bearing ...

June 28, 2011

President Quixote's Legacy: Confused, Ill-Educated and Not Too Bright

The number of Obama supporters seems inversely related to his time in office.  Many wonder what happened to "The One We Are Waiting For." Obama assumed office in difficult economic times.  After a couple of years of excuses -- which include...

June 23, 2011

Atlas Is Shrugging In The US And Flexing His Muscles Elsewhere

Ayn Rand was mostly correct when she wrote her magnum opus "Atlas Shrugged." She was incorrect in one important area. She assumed the final option for the wealthy and entrepreneurial class was to go on "strike" and retire to Galt's Gulch. I...

June 20, 2011

Twenty-Nine Reasons to Be Angry And/Or Scared

If you're not both angry and scared at the world's current situation, you're not paying attention. Rained out from a planned and anticipated golf game is not a good thing.  As a result, I find myself confined to the house and computer in a les...

June 6, 2011

Government-Assisted Economic Suicide

Quantitative Easing ends in June, according to Ben Bernanke's initial commitment.  As June begins, the ending seems in doubt despite Fed statements regarding its imminent demise.  These comments are perfunctory propaganda and will ultimatel...

May 24, 2011

A Class of Economic Zombies, Another Triumph of Socialism

Apparently our government has succeeded in making almost half of the population dependent upon it or others. Phil Izzo in the WSJ discussed a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research:The survey asked a simple question, ...

April 19, 2011

It's All Coming Apart

Despite Government propaganda and manipulated statistics to the contrary, our economy continues to deteriorate.  For every "green shoot" highlighted by the Government and its lackey media, multiple contra-examples are cited by independ...

April 6, 2011

The IRS Does Its Business

Here is an addendum to my AT article yesterday entitled When Government Turns Predator. There are thousands of heart-breaking stories like this one.Yesterday, Phil Hodgen recounted the following story on his blog:This is the real life situation ...

April 5, 2011

When Government Turns Predator

Honest US citizens are being turned into prey by the IRS, the victims a hunt for tax evaders. It is the natural, if lamentable, product of the urge to power our Founders warned us against.More than two centuries ago, George Washington stated:Gov...

April 2, 2011

Taking, not making

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, our economy has changed from a dynamic growth economy into a non-growth, tired and spent welfare state. The implications of this change are enormous and should be recognized by investors, taxpayers and anyone else who...

March 15, 2011

Quantitative Easing: Our Tiger by the Tail

Friedrich Hayek's A Tiger by the Tail: The Keynesian Legacy of Inflation was published in 1978. It seems an appropriate description of what Quantitative Easing (QE) has produced. We are far along on a journey that cannot be stopped without enormous d...

February 16, 2011

Faking Our Way to Sovereign Bankruptcy

As political events in Egypt play out, including likely contagion to other parts of Africa and the Middle East, attention is diverted from the real threat to our country -- government insolvency. From Jeff T. Allen, writing in American Thinker:There ...

February 11, 2011

Hyperinflation is A Small Price to Pay?

The US is hurtling toward out-of-control inflation while the political class tries to convince the hoi polloi that inflation is not a problem. Government-generated CPI data show tame inflation. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claims deflation, ...

February 10, 2011

The Failure of Obamanomics

The monthly jobs numbers are both tragic and telling. Each report brings forth spin from the White House asserting how the economy has turned the corner and the recovery is occurring. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jobs are not being cre...

February 6, 2011

Obama's Boy Wonder Act Wearing Thin

The halo is no more. Dreams of a return to Camelot have been dashed. The carving planned for Mount Rushmore will not happen. A devastating picture of President Obama and the damage he is inflicting on the US and the rest of the world is presented b...

February 1, 2011

Stop the Fraud -- Freeze the Debt Ceiling

The upcoming battle over raising the debt limit is a microcosm of the fraud that government has become.This Kabuki act is performed every time Federal debt approaches its legal limit.  The stage play is always the same: Politicians admit that sp...

January 23, 2011

Has Greenspan gotten religion?

There are certain things you just never expect to hear. Some of them follow: Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi admit that George Bush was correct all alongJohn Kerry admits he married for moneyThe Pope admits there is no GodGeorge Bush admits he dodged the...

January 11, 2011

Forget about Economic Recovery in 2011

The new year unfailingly raises spirits, even for those who don't imbibe.  It represents a clean slate, a new start, and a time to make resolutions to improve ourselves and our lives.  It is a time for renewal.Economists and politicians are...

January 11, 2011

Let Them Eat Widescreen TVs and I-Phones

The disparities in income between the lower and middle income Americans and those doing well continues to widen. In addition to the debt time-bomb, these income disparities represent another potential explosion.Ambrose Evans Pritchard provides some d...

January 3, 2011

The Coming Political Upheaval

The late Murray Rothbard, famous Austrian economist and libertarian, published a collection of essays under the title Making Economic Sense.  One subsection was entitled "Politics as Economic Violence."  That phrase described, in ...

January 3, 2011

Septic Tank Economics

Fiat currencies are like particles floating up and down in a septic tank. At times one currency floats higher than another. Comparing currencies against one another is a relative and not an absolute game. You really don't know whether one has stre...

December 17, 2010

Late-Stage Animal Farm

The noise you hear is politicians squealing like pigs deprived of food. Government, at all levels, is out of money. Tax revenues and markets refuse to bow to the pigs' demands. Ben Bernanke is printing pig food. For a while, his produce might wor...

December 13, 2010

Mencken on Obama

Clarice Feldman has presented a thorough and devastating description of the Obama presidency at American Thinker.Here are a couple of quotes from the article:From the beginning of the week to the end, the president made crystal-clear to anyone who pa...

December 7, 2010

Put Uncle Sam on an Allowance

This country is headed for financial disaster. Spendthrift government is insolvent, and its behavior threatens the economy and lifestyle of all citizens. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform recently provided recommendations fo...

December 1, 2010

Santa Claus has Left the Left

In an editorial today entitled "The Dead Enders," the Wall Street Journal speculated about the Democrat's unwillingness to extend the Bush tax cuts: ... the President is still holding out against even a temporary extension of the 2001 and ...

November 29, 2010

Jekyll and Hyde Government

Respect for anything associated with government that is non-military is virtually nonexistent. Opinion polls affirm that aside from loving their own benefits, Americans harbor respect for politicians and government at all-time lows. In a country tha...

November 21, 2010

Hamtramck, MI as the Moral Compass of America

Government at all levels has a built-in propensity to bury or defer problems. Politicians would rather declare a problem solved than actually solve it. Why? Because they are in the business of playing Santa Claus. They never want to be in the role...

November 17, 2010

Why the Democratic Party Cannot Survive

After the election two years ago, Time Magazine questioned whether the Elephant had become an extinct political animal. The most recent election raised questions as to whether the Donkey should be deemed an endangered species. Questioning either part...

November 9, 2010

Bernanke's Cowardice Has Sealed Our Fate

The day after the election, the Federal Reserve launched QE2, the second round of Quantitative Easing. This public relations euphemism attempts to hide the fact that the Fed is "printing money" (the Fed actually does it electronically these...

November 9, 2010

Has Bernanke 'Jumped the Shark?'

Ben Bernanke's act may be the "jump the shark" moment for the Federal Reserve. Wikipedia discusses the term: Jumping the shark is an idiom used to denote the point in a television program's history where the plot spins off into a...

November 8, 2010

Red vs. Blue: Bloods vs. Crips

National politicians have been served notice that the American people have finally awakened. Dissatisfaction with government is palpable. It showed in the election, in polls, and in voting patterns. Ron Fourier summarized recent polling:More than 70 ...

October 31, 2010

Even Democrats see Obama as a failure and a fake

An interview with a Democratic Washington insider described as "a longtime Washington D.C. insider, and former advisor to the Obama election campaign and transition team ..." describes the "administration in crisis, and a president ...

October 3, 2010

The Tea Party vs. The Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a movie made in 1956. According to Wikipedia: The Body Snatchers is a 1955 science fiction novel by Jack Finney, originally serialized in Colliers Magazine in 1954, which describes the town of M...

September 29, 2010

Obama: Not Moses, Merely Elmer Gantry

The abject failure of the Obama administration is painfully obvious. Herman Cain described the situation:Millions of voters have come to realize that this presidency lacks leadership, direction, decisiveness, economic urgency and, most of a...

September 22, 2010

It's Fed silly season again

It is Fed silly season. Again! It rolls around quarterly or more frequently for those that follow their publications.Pre-event pundits jabber endlessly. A common thread to every Fed meeting is that this one, this very one, is the most important ever....

September 21, 2010

A Depression May Be Our Best Hope

Government has become Leviathan, and Leviathan has misbehaved and failed miserably. Not since the Civil War has the political future been so tenuous. The Constitution is routinely ignored. The federal government is at odds with states over health car...

September 9, 2010

Public Nuisance at the New York Times

I have refrained from bashing Paul Krugman of the NY Times. Indeed, I barely mention him because I found him embarrassing to be included in the economics profession. He has become such a Public Nuisance,appearing in print and on TV expounding his par...

August 31, 2010

Keynes as 'Useful Idiot'

The mother's milk of American politics may be money, but the fuel for American socialism is Keynesian economics. Keynesianism's inherent bias toward bigger government has made it the indispensable tool for statists around the globe. Politicians' natu...

August 30, 2010

Bernanke - Pathetic, Duplicitous or Just a Good Soldier?

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is out of options and luck.Of course, he couldn't say that at Jackson Hole. Instead, he had to pretend that his magic was still strong and would be used, if necessary. By customizing mixtures of various powders (some apparen...

August 18, 2010

The Divine Right of Government

History is a great teacher. It often provides clues that enable us to understand the present and future. Ancient regimes' concept of divine right of kings seems pertinent to today. Wikipedia offers as good a summary as any:The Divine Right of Ki...

August 10, 2010

Desperate Economic Action Ahead?

The economic condition of the country continues to decline toward its rendezvous with an as yet unknowable catastrophe. Speculation regarding this outcome is natural because self-interest, if not self-preservation, is at stake. Here is but one possib...

August 3, 2010

Inflation: The Last Gasp of the Obama Economic Crisis

Inflation is the inevitable ending of this awful economic crisis. The only questions are how much and when.A rising number of supports champion inflation as a salvation strategy. Richard Russell in a recent newsletter provides the rationale (embolden...

August 1, 2010

Our Patrick Henry Moment Is Here

Obama's election was supposed to transform America, at least in his mind.This country's first socialist president strode into office confident that he would remake this country. Fortunately for the country, the timing of his election was twenty, if n...

July 28, 2010

Repent -- The End Is Near

It is a lazy afternoon. Or at least it was until I came across a blog by Mish. There was little in the post that I didn't know or suspect, but this quote triggered a reaction:It hides the economic substance of what's really happening-an unlimited tax...

July 19, 2010

We know more about the Tiger Woods sex scandal than about our own president

The cornerstone of a democracy or any representative government is an informed public. The U.S. Founding Fathers recognized the importance of an enlightened citizenry and saw fit to codify it in the very First Amendment. How important they considered...

July 11, 2010

Ratcheting to Ruin

The U.S. government moves closer to a debt death spiral. Arguably, we are already in the beginning phase of this spiral as this rather scary observation points out: The nation's debt leapt $166 billion in a single day last week, the third-larges...

July 3, 2010

President Clarabelle

The country faces grave danger immediately ahead. Increasingly, people agree with Pamela Geller's sentiments:I have come a long way from when I would listen with trepidation and fear for our nation, so under his spell was America. He [Obama] has...

June 28, 2010

Inflation is a Political Choice

For those of who believe an economic apocalypse is unavoidable, there is disagreement as to what the end looks like. Some very bright people disagree whether the end is the hell of hyperinflation or death by freezing in the depths of deflation. To un...

June 27, 2010

New financial regulation bill a farce

The financial reform that is about to be passed is a farce. Like so much in Washington, it is strictly for the tourists. The following article from Sox First provides commentary on the legislation: You think the Obama administration's legislation...

June 26, 2010

Is inflation inevitable?

The debate continues over whether inflation or deflation is our fate. I believe that we will ultimately end up in a massive inflation, possibly hyperinflation. My reasoning has always been based on how I anticipate politicians to react to the soon...

June 21, 2010

Hayek and The Road to Ruin

Friedrich Hayek's slim book "The Road to Serfdom" received a great deal of publicity as a result of  Glenn Beck's treatment.While some might dismay regarding the catalyst for Hayek's revival, others delight in his sudden popularity,...

June 18, 2010

Keynes' 'Animal Spirits'

Macroeconomics does not work for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost is that it does not pick up the "changes" at the microeconomic level. That is, it does not deal with changes in incentives and disincentives that individual deci...

June 8, 2010

Is there any way to avoid the coming economic calamity?

Last week I wrote about the US economy ending up in a Depression. Karl Denninger has a hard-hitting piece about our economic future that reaches a similar conclusion.   He believes that our economy could contract as much as 40%. While that mig...

June 4, 2010

Worse than a Depression

As the economic crisis approaches the two-year point, it is apparent that "this time is different." Few analysts believe that we are going to recover from this Great Recession in a fashion that resembles prior recoveries. Most argue about h...

May 30, 2010

Stop bullying the geniuses!

Randall Hoven frequently presents a "graph of the day." As I see it, the purpose of the graph is to expose the mainstream media slant on the news with facts and data.In this piece, Mr. Hoven takes on Paul Krugman's assertion of how well the...

May 29, 2010

The End of Democratic Socialism

The end of democratic socialism is at hand. The welfare states of the U.S. and Europe are financially out of control, spent and unsustainable. They have reached the point that Margaret Thatcher defined as the end of socialism: They have run out of ot...

May 28, 2010

Investment advice: Go long on tar, feathers, and rails

Finally, there may be some good news. Uh, not necessarily what you might be expecting however. The good news is that things are actually worse than believed, and the collapse will occur sooner rather than later. Why is that good news? It is, only in ...

May 27, 2010

Keynes' deathbed conversion to capitalism

Wait, stop the Economics. There has been a terrible mistake. Even John Maynard Keynes recognized his central planning approach to economics could not work. Ten days before his death he stated: "I find myself more and more relying for a soluti...

May 25, 2010

Why Things Will Not Get Better

From Financial Armageddon comes a reasonable description of what has motivated economic policy during this financial crisis:  Throughout the financial crisis, policymakers have focused on keeping things afloat until the storm passes. They've...

May 23, 2010

Nobel Laureate Foreign Policy

It is difficult to determine which foreign policy fiasco is our Nobel Laureate's greatest achievement. Here is a quote from Ken Blackwell, a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration and the Family Research Council: It would be hard...

May 18, 2010

One financial doomsday scenario

That the US is going broke is no longer a moot point for many. The signs are everywhere; the mathematics too obvious. To understand the latter, see The Continuing Spiral to Bankruptcy, Spiraling to Bankruptcy or Welfare States R.I.P. The timing a...

May 14, 2010

The government bubble is ending.

Daniel Henninger at the Wall Street Journal is one of the more talented journalists and opinion writers left in the print media.Today he editorializes about Europe and its implications for US politics.The state of Europe can be summed up in one word...

May 10, 2010

Why don't we all move to La Mancha and change the world

Paul B. Farrell of Marketwatch bemoans the charade known as political reform of the financial markets: Obama is now Wall Street's best asset, their new Trojan Horse replacing Hank Paulson, a troika with Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner. Wall Stree...

May 2, 2010

Capital Flight and Freedom

As freedoms are compromised and even eliminated, those who desire freedom act to offset the depredations imposed upon them. Capital, both human and wealth, attempt to right the wrongs imposed. Once that alternative is seen as fruitless, both will fle...

April 22, 2010

Political Fatal Conceit

Economists and lawyers think differently. Economists believe that incentives are more effective to alter behavior; lawyers believe that coercion via laws is the way to affect behavior. The parable of the Sun and the Wind is illustrative. They are bot...

April 20, 2010

'Anarchy plus a Constable'

"Anarchy plus a constable" was Thomas Carlyle's description of classical liberalism. Gerald O'Driscoll, in an "An Economy of Liars" in the Wall Street Journal, discussed the breakdown of honesty and ethics and related it to ...

April 17, 2010

Ron Paul, Obama even in polls.

The mood of the people in the US is clearly changing. Whether the turn reflects itself in governmental policies or not is moot. If it does not, then this country is in for social and political unrest, perhaps to an extent not seen since the 1860s....

April 12, 2010

The empty suit president

Kyle-Anne Shiver writes a devastatingly effective column on the empty suit known as our President. She first questions his purported intelligence: If there is a single thing that Barack Obama has proved to the American people - beyond any reason...

April 8, 2010

The Current Political Condition is Unstable

If one group of people prefers government control and management of people's lives and another prefers liberty and a desire to be left alone, should they be required to fight, antagonize one another, risk bloodshed and loss of life in order to impose...

March 28, 2010

Social Security Ponzi scheme unraveling

The darling of the politicans in Washington has become not-so darling. Social Security, for decades a hidden slush fund that allowed pols to spend beyond what they taxed, has turned into an albatross. The Ponzi Scheme has unraveled.According to the N...

March 24, 2010

Fun with Obamacare numbers

Little did Richard Feynman know when he stated: "There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we ...

March 19, 2010

Is government at all levels falling apart?

Government services will be cut at every level. Potholes will deepen, infra-structure problems will worsen, pension plans will become insolvent, school systems will declare bankruptcy, police and fire protection will be reduced, etc. etc. You...

March 17, 2010

The Keynesian Fraud

Keynesian economics is mostly a fraud and always has been. It has little theoretical basis and no empirical support, as I have previous explained.Our school system has convinced the public that government is the source of most good and can solve all ...

March 15, 2010

Obama the Entrepreneurship Expert

President-of-the-World Obama is at it again. Apparently, he feels that the problems in this country are too small for him, or else they have all been solved. His wisdom and greatness are too important to be squandered on only one nation. They must be...

March 14, 2010

Virtually every Western Democratic Government is insolvent.

Virtually every Western democratic government is insolvent.  And governments utilized the same practices as General Motors to reach this point. In GM's case, poor management was exposed by Honda, Toyota and other foreign competitors.  In go...

March 12, 2010

The problem is brainlock, not gridlock

Complaints about Washington abound. Most consider President Obama the problem. Others consider lack of cooperation or gridlock the problem. There is a problem, even if there is disagreement as to what it might be.   For me, gridlock is not a pr...

March 11, 2010

Madoff victims seek bailout from Congress

In a further sign of the deterioration of society, the wealthy (or formerly wealthy) believe they are entitled to be bailed out for their losses. The victims of the Madoff and Stanford scams are appealing to Congress for a bailout. Bloomberg reports:...

March 11, 2010

Democrats intruding on our 'favorite point' of freedom

Tony Blankley captures the flavor of the American political scene in his piece "An American Obsession with Freedom." Edward Burke referred to "... some favorite point which ... becomes the criterion of their [the peoples'] happiness....

March 6, 2010

Is the White House delusional about 2012?

The title puts the sound of Obamacare into perspective. Orally, it is possible that the speaker means it either way. "Obama care" is the issue that Simon Johnson, MIT economist, explores.  More specifically, "Does Obama care?...

February 27, 2010

2010 will be a watershed election

Public concern for the sustainability of our fiscal condition and way of life is rife. Yet, the political class is unwilling or unable to respond. Inaction reflects in the public's rising anger.As Rasmussen reported:Voter unhappiness with Congress h...

February 27, 2010

The 'Claude Rains' recovery

"No Recovery?" In the best Claude Rains fashion, "I am shocked, shocked!"There is no economic recovery, and there will be no economic recovery this year and probably not next. Yet the media, mainstream economists and the Administr...

February 27, 2010

Tough guy Bernanke blows smoke

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared before Congress this week wearing his "bad guy" face. I did not watch his testimony either day. Apparently, based on news reports and blogs, nothing of significance happened on the second day. The Washing...

February 24, 2010

Obama's Ides-of-March Moment is Near

By the end of March, Barack Obama's administration will face its destiny, its Brutus a pawn of the fates.In Jimmy Carter's presidency, the Wall Street Journal editorialized about "Ratcheting to Ruin." The title derived from the fact th...

February 23, 2010

Of course the stim bill made things worse

According to calculations by Robert Barro, Harvard University economist, the stimulus package harmed the economy. Mr. Barro, concluded in the Wall Street Journal :... viewed over five years, the fiscal stimulus package is a way to get an extra $600 b...

February 21, 2010

Democrats seek distance from Obama as health care reform is revived

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE ...

February 20, 2010

The Economic Crisis Is Only a Symptom

There are few economic problems that don't originate in politics. Citizens' faith in government has deteriorated recently, as shown in virtually every political poll. Rasmussen found that "63% of likely voters believe, generally speaking, that i...

February 20, 2010

The Fed feints

Great hoopla over the Federal Reserve's surprise decision to raise the discount rate 0.25 % fills the media and the markets. Pundits discuss earnestly the spice has been added to the tea leaves. Barry Ritholtz lists three possible motivations behind...

February 11, 2010

Washington is oblivious as well as Useless

The public is in an ugly mood regarding politics. For the country, this anger may represent a turning point. For politicians in Washington, it is just business as usual. Can they be this tone deaf? Does their arrogance prevent them from recognizing w...

January 30, 2010

Osama parrots the left

Obama bin Laden is apparently modifying his image and adopting the role of elder statesman for the world. Here as reported in the NY Times is his recent advice: "Talk about climate change is not an ideological luxury but a reality," Mr....

January 28, 2010

Health Care Reform Vaporizes Obama Presidency

In the fledgling days of the personal computer industry, software vendors frequently announced products that were not yet ready for release. The term "vaporware" was coined to describe such software. Most of these products never reached the...

January 23, 2010

A Seinfeld perspective on Massachusetts

In a post on November 19 entitled Another Failed Presidency, I stated:At this point they [politicians] are trying to decide what is least dangerous for their individual careers. For the Republicans that probably means pouring gasoline on ship Obama. ...

January 15, 2010

'Free' Health Care

One of the simplest economic concepts to understand is the theory of demand. As the price of a good to users decreases, demand or use of that good will increase. As the price of a good approaches zero, theoretically the demand or use of the good will...

January 10, 2010

The health care reform Medicare trap

All of us are going to die. Knowing how and when are answers not provided. The imposition of Obamacare does not provide the answers, but for most of us its passage means the terminal event is likely to be sooner rather than later. From the Wall Stree...

January 1, 2010

2010 Will Be Worse

The year 2010 is likely to be the pivotal year where pundits stop referring to the recession and begin openly talking about a depression.   Our economic problem is rather simple to describe: There is too much debt relative to income an...

December 24, 2009

Obamacare a pallbearer for American freedom?

"The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control." (Benjamin Tucker) There is no better way to describe the so-called  health care plan than Tucker's quote. It is not about improving health care; it never was. Oh there ...

December 18, 2009

Obama's Vote-Buying Dilemma

Does President Obama want to make new friends or alienate old ones? That is the interesting political problem shaping up for him and other Democrats. This problem will manifest in the coming collision between states and Obama's reelection strate...

December 18, 2009

Government sending mixed messages to banks

The current economic crisis had its own unique economic and financial aspects. The political response did not. Politicians initially reacted by blaming everyone in sight (save members of their own party). The blame-game was then followed by posturing...

December 11, 2009

Kofi Annan - public nuisance

Mr. Kofi A. Annan has opined on the Huffington Post regarding the Copenhagen Summit. Mr. Annan is former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Like a bad penny, this man just keeps turning up.As part of his natural role as Public Nuisance, Mr. A...

November 29, 2009

Government Integrity and Ethics

The Federal Government admits to over $12 Trillion dollars in debt. In reality, its obligations are multiples of that number. The unfunded promises from Social Security and Medicare total around $100 trillion. To properly fund the forecasted future d...

November 28, 2009

Obama's 'Cardiff Giant'

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE ...

November 25, 2009

Experts - then and now - always get it wrong

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE ...

November 23, 2009

Why Obamanomics Will Not Improve the Economy

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."  - Friedrich HayekThe economic programs and policies currently in place are truly astounding. I don't th...

November 19, 2009

A failed presidency is now unavoidable

For the past couple of months I have worried about the risks of a failed presidency. No one should want this, regardless of party affiliation. It is harmful and dangerous to our economy and country. However, it appears obvious to me that the royal re...

November 17, 2009

An economist who lives up to his name

Dr. Alan Blinder, Professor of Economics at Princeton and former vice chairman of the  Federal Reserve Board (among many other prestigious accomplishments), had an editorial on November 16 in the Wall Street Journal entitled "How Washington...