Monthly Archives: August 2011

Archive of posts published in the specified Month

Beware of One Party Towns

In the Wall Street Journal  Steve H. Hanke and  Stephen J.K. Walters write How Property Taxes and the ‘Curley Effect’ Are Killing Baltimore–  As affluent residents leave town, the political playing field tips further and further in favor of pro-tax Democrats.

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My Bias

One of the joys of the internet is that you are no longer limited to the tastes and bias of a media elite.  One can focus on the stories, issues and perspectives that interest you and not what a selected

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You can have my guitar when you pry it from my cold dead hands

Gibson Guitars has been raided  for allegedly using woods from endangered sources. From the Wall Street Journal  Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear by Eric Felten  8/26/11: Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and

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A Reduction in Materialism

Some of the major technological marvel of today’s world are not doing much to create new jobs.  They’ll bring big gains but without putting too many people back to work,  IT specialists of the right kind excluded. The internet is

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A Better Use of Capital

Warren Buffet’s most recent call to tax the wealthy more has been bantered about in the press and has received several good responses.  I could sum them up as follows: The problem is the spending . Sending them more money

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The Howard Schultz Bullshit Boycott

Howard Schultz, the  CEO of Starbucks, has called on all corporation to suspend their political contributions until a solution is reached on the deficit.   He has been able to get several large corporations to sign on to his boycott. He

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The Evolution of Racial Politics

The recent local election is a surprising outcome that is largely the result of Macon becoming a one party town. Mayor Reichert held on to his position by a very slim margin against Jack Ellis. Ellis had run for mayor

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The Four Essential Elements of a Successful Campaign

There are four requirements to get elected. These are listed in order: Core principles Demographics Administration Leadership and character It may be disappointing that I listed leadership and character last.  While it is important it will not likely overcome deficiencies

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Why a Stable Economy is So Elusive

When reading and reflecting on the history of our economic and financial condition it appears that we get it wrong more often than we get it right. Just as our history is a history of wars with brief interim periods

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Equality verses Prosperity

The Wall Street Journal Review and Outlook writes Millionaires Go Missing (full access may require paid subscription). The critical point is that there are fewer wealthy now than before the recession.  This should not be surprising, but to many it

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They Already Have Their Money

Barney Kilgore, the man who made the Wall Street Journal into a national publication, was once asked why so many rich people favored higher taxes. That’s easy, he replied. They already have their money.

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Random Political Thoughts 2011 08 17

We want to believe we can have it all without the sacrifice. When the laws of nature reassert themselves, we want to blame the charlatans who sold the snake oil rather than the fools who believed them.

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We Can Not Afford to Get it Only Half Right

The potential fallacy of the budget reformers is to focus ONLY on the reduction in government and government spending.  Having a smaller government is desirable and productive. Getting to that point, however, can be very painful and not addressing the

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Our Greatest Military Secret

By no means the least of the technologies the microprocessor has changed profoundly is the technology of war. When World War II ended, a Cold War quickly developed between the two so-called superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Although

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No Good Solution Will Come from a Bad Diagnosis

From  Dodd-Frank: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong by Contrad Black in the National Review online version 8/11/11 The two most offensive aspects of Dodd-Frank are that it is part of the concerted bipartisan effort of the entire political class to pretend that

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Humane Ideas Taken to Inhumane Extremes

Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post The Mark of a Tired Nation, August 11, 2011. Excerpt: Yet the ultimate cause of the economic malaise is not a political failure but a political choice. Since the New Deal — and

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A Blessing in Disguise

Economist John Taylor writes an excellent article : The End of the Growth Consensus in the Wall Street Journal (7/21/11). Excerpts: Economic policy in the ’80s and ’90s was decidedly noninterventionist, especially in comparison with the damaging wage and price controls

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Too Much Information

Despite this constant free flow of information … we are caught unaware as one crisis after another devastates the financial markets. The temptation is to think that information and openness will enable us to risk and eliminate market crisis.  As

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Progressive Rejection

In the 7/30/11 New York Times Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg writes Why Voters Tune Out Democrats.  It was a thoughtful piece, but was stronger on analysis than prescriptions. It earned some great comments and retorts: At American Thinker, Why Some

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The Emperor Has no Clues

from Scott Grannis in today’s Calafia Beach Pundit,  A Genuine Selling Panic Adding to the panic, I believe, is the perception that the White House is clueless. Obama’s speech earlier today was abysmal. Once again he blamed Republicans and the

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