Musings on the Week

Musings on the Week

May 31, 2014

Economy – “We believe in individual initiative, personal responsibility, opportunity, freedom, small government, the Constitution. These principles, these American principles are key to getting our economy back to being successful and leading the world.” Mitt Romney.

Politics – Barack Obama put his hand on the Bible (twice) and swore to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” which is by far Obama’s biggest lie!

Politics – Democrats are privately criticizing Obama, calling him “detached,” “flat footed,” and “incompetent” for his mishandling of the succession of scandals that won’t go away.

Politics – Out of the 195 House-passed bills that are now stalled in the Senate, only 31 were written by Democrats, and many have been awaiting Senate approval for close to a year.

Politics – Hillary Rodham Clinton will be branded as a continuation of the Democrat culture of corruption, begun by her husband and continued by Barack Obama with all his scandals.

VA – Only 56.9% of employees believe they can disclose a violation of law or regulation without fear of reprisal and only 46.1%, feel “a high level of respect” for their senior leaders.

Politics - This week’s distractions from the stagnant economy and ObamaCare: another mass murder by disillusioned youth and more empty saber rattling on the Ukraine.

Media – The Obama administration addresses problems not according to their intrinsic seriousness but according to the political impact when the media notices them.

Economy – “The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” Milton Friedman.

Economy – According to the BEA, the real gross domestic product actually decreased at an annual rate of 1.0% in the first quarter, rather than the .0025% increase originally estimated.

Economy – According to the CBO, the economy would have been better off today if the government had done nothing instead of spending and borrowing $6 trillion.

Economy – The left loves the new economics book by Thomas Piketty, but the data has been found to be manipulated and selected based on its political agenda.

Inequality – A Chief Executive (CEO) now makes 257 times the average worker’s salary in the U.S., up sharply from the 181 times in 2009, which is progress under President Obama?

Healthcare – Most ObamaCare deadlines have been erased or extended, most rules have been excised or rewritten, and most of these changes have made the system work worse.

Healthcare – Rising ObamaCare costs can no longer be denied, with rising premiums and rising hidden costs of co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance requirements

Housing – Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reports that many of the nation’s single-family housing markets are stalling, after earlier premature announcements of a recovery.

Environment – The EPA should never have been allowed to define carbon dioxide (CO2) as a “pollutant” because now it is been used as a weapon to close down coal energy plants.

Environment – The EPA’s own model, ironically acronymed MAGICC, estimates that its new policies will prevent a grand total of 0.018ºC in warming by 2100, at the cost of billions.

Environment – The World Health Organization rescinded it ban on DDT, while the U.S. government refuses to admit its mistake exposing children to mosquito carried diseases.

Environment – The one thing that global environmentalist can do is to exaggerate effects and ignore results, since the whole movement is a stealth redistribution of wealth scheme.

Marriage – A state defined civil union covers personal inter-relationship legal, contractual privileges, while heterosexual marriage expands to define family and religious needs.

Crime – Black mob violence is becoming the norm, as Memorial Day riots and knockout games were suppressed or ignored by the media since white victims are not newsworthy.

Economy – “Indeed, a major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.” Milton Friedman.

Foreign Policy – Obama’s West Point commencement remarks reinforced the perception of his “Obama Undoctrine;” basically lots of empty talk unbacked by coherent actions.

Middle East – Slinking out of Iraq after inability to sign a Bilateral Security Agreement was exit strategy, so now Obama embraces this same strategy for Afghanistan - with same results?

David Coughlin

Hawthorne, NY