Current Event Ramblings, February 2

Lunchtime ramblings...

The federal government's debt now stands at $15,356,140,000,000.  One-third of that has been amassed during the Obama administration.  All of that increase in the last three years--and the unemployment rate has gone up.  Only people who don't understand history and economics can't understand why.

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74 people were killed and hundreds injured at the end of a soccer match in Egypt yesterday.  Apparently, the police just stood by and let it happen, but it has been suggested that Egypt's new government has been so roundly criticized for its harsh methods, that the police are under orders to back off.  I don't know if that's true or not, it was in the story I read about the riot.  Regardless, the more uncivilized people are, the more government they need to control them.  I will never weary of making the point--because it is true and needs to be repeated endlessly, until everybody hears it and knows it--that ever since Christianity has been on the decline in America, government has grown.  The more uncivilized people are, the more government they need to control them.  But, of course, to the "progressives", this is good. 

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According to one estimate, Mitt Romney outspent Newt Gingrich 65 to 1 in the Florida primary.  He won't have that edge in the general election.

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There were 603 Chevy Volts sold in America in January.  That many?

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American Airlines is cutting 13,000 jobs, but New York City is hiring people.  Government grows and the private sector dies.  Don't worry, the next two generations will pay for it all.  Oh, the new hirings in New York City were mostly for people to work in welfare offices.  Welfare.  This is what America has become?  Trace it back to Franklin Roosevelt, through Lyndon Johnson, to Barack Obama.  The Democratic Party.  And there's not a thing in the world anybody can do about it now...except watch it get worse.

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Barack Obama--surprise!--blames the banks for the housing crisis.  Not a word about the Clinton Justice Department threatening to "investigate" banks if they did not give more loans to minorities (i.e., people who couldn't pay them back), nor about the Federal Reserve artificially lowering interest rates below market levels to stimulate more "home ownership" among people who had no business buying one in the first place.  No, only the banks are at fault.  And while, certainly, banks share some of the blame--there are no perfect humans or institutions--I find it fascinating that, to Obama, it's never--NEVER--government's fault.  Well, with one exception--everything is George Bush's fault.  It was George Bush in the Garden of Eden who convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit...

The current economic malaise was caused by the federal government's intervention into the economy, and it is being continued by an administration that insists on following policies that deter the private investment needed to spur economic growth.  Government cannot grow an economy; it can either assist, by protecting private property and providing the incentives (low taxes and minimal regulation) necessary for secure investment, or it can hinder, by unwarranted intervention into the private sector, stymieing investment and discouraging production.  The former type of government helped build the United States into the greatest economic power and the richest country the world has ever seen.  The latter kind of government is $15 trillion in debt and destroying the economic future of Americans, many of whom have not even been born yet.

But, money and envy buys votes and nobody knows that better than Democrats.  And more poverty means more people dependent upon government.  I'm going to keep repeating that, too. 

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Super Bowl weekend.  For what it's worth (nothing), my prediction:  the Giants will win, but it will be close.  They seem to have the momentum, and a psychological edge because they beat New England in the SB four years ago.  Frankly, I couldn't care less who won.  Actually, I hope they both lose.  Kinda like when the Yankees and Red Sox play...