Musings on the Week

Musings on the Week

April 18, 2015

Economy - “Monetary policy cannot do much about long-term growth, all we can try to do is to try to smooth out periods where the economy is depressed because of lack of demand.” Ben Bernanke.

Leftist Nirvana – Cities filled with old men and women who never had children; cities filled with young men and women who will never marry, who are still working on their fourth degree without ever having held a job; cities filled with multi-generational welfare recipients who are also the only ones having children; cities owned by foreign nations from their historic buildings to their imported booming populations; and no children, no jobs, no future, no great works, no civilization progress, and no golden age.

Scandals – As more and more proof of Lois Lerner’s illegal acts are uncovered, the more Eric Holder’s decision not to prosecute the IRS case looks like another politically-driven decision.

Politics - This week’s distractions from the sluggish economy and ObamaCare: Hillary’s stumbling, bumbling political campaign and Boko Haram children’s campaign progress.

Politics – A multi-millionairess serial liar married to a multi-millionaire serial adulterer has just announced for the Presidency of our country to save the middle class from impoverishment!

Politics – Hillary Clinton has little relevant experience and few accomplishments to her credit, so one of her key advisors is someone who is even less qualified, her daughter Chelsea.

Politics – You know Hillary Clinton is in trouble when Saturday Night Live, Twitter and The Onion mocked her campaign announcement with “Out with a Racist, and In with a Sexist.”

Politics – Hillary’s campaign is off to fine start portraying her as past her political prime, a constructed, fake, and self-obsessed persona; a boring, risk averse, default option for a party out-of-touch with many of its would-be constituents and lacking in creativity and ambition.

Innovation - “Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It's the only insurance against irrelevance. It's the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty. It's the only strategy for out-performing a dismal economy.” Gary Hamel.

Post Office – The Postal Service posted a $5.5 billion loss in fiscal 2014, the eighth year in a row with multi-billion-dollar losses, and now maxed out its $15 billion U.S. Treasury line of credit.

Wealth – According to the New York Times, the “typical American household” is now worth 36% less than it was worth a decade ago.

Income – Incomes fell for the bottom 80% of all income earners in the United States during the 12 months leading up to June 2014.

Income – The blue states that try to lift up the poor with high taxes, high welfare benefits, and high minimum wages tend to be where the rich end up the richest and the poor the poorest.

Energy – By 2013, thanks to the Renewable Fuel Standard, 40% of the U.S. corn crop was diverted to make ethanol, 45% fed livestock, and only 15% was set aside for food.

Housing – The rate of homeownership in the U.S. has been declining for seven years in a row, and it is now the lowest that it has been in 20 years.

Taxes – Americans spend about 6.1 billion hours and $224.3 billion a year, $90.3 billion of it by individuals, to comply with the filing requirements of the tax code, according to the IRS.

Education – According to U.S. Department of Education, 33% of all Americans with student loans are currently behind on their student loan debt repayments.

Welfare – We spend nearly $1 trillion a year to fund over 100 separate anti-poverty programs, yet we have achieved only minimal gains in helping people escape poverty.

Healthcare – ObamaCare will increase taxes by nearly $800 billion for the period of 2013-2022, with 18 separate tax increases.

Economy - “A weak currency is the sign of a weak economy, and a weak economy leads to a weak nation.” Ross Perot.

Latin America – Obama has unveiled his “Dependency Theory” in Latin America believing the U.S. is sucking the wealth out of smaller, less powerful nations.

Trade – Free trade is a good geopolitical concept because it is far better than foreign aid as a mechanism for generating prosperity in less-developed nations..

GWOT – Now that Obama has removed Iran and Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terror, only Syria and Sudan remain until he decides to pander (appease) to them as well.

Middle East – As long as every Palestinian and Iranian agreements are based on the non-negotiable Israeli genocide, there will never be a signed treaty in the Middle East.

Israel – The latest Washington Post – ABC News poll found Americans’ support for a Palestinian state has reached its lowest point in 20 years (39%), down from 58% in 2003.

Iran – The U.N. has passed ten Security Council resolutions that were each intended to restrain Iran in terms of their nuclear ambitions in the context of nuclear non-proliferation.

Iran – On October 7, 2008, Barack Obama said, “We cannot allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and I will do everything that’s required to prevent it.” – Another missed promise?

Iran – Obama’s “framework” is a sham, since Ayotollah Ali Khamenei immediately disagreed with the most important elements of the deal as laid out in the White House fact sheet.

David Coughlin

Hawthorne, NY

http://www.returntocommonsensesite.com/