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It’s time for our leaders to stop playing politics with the energy industry and to start working for solutions that will take the pressure off household budgets and enhance our energy security. Continue reading
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This works out to $20,928 profit every minute! Continue reading
Historic events in the life of a nation deserve to be chronicled, accurately and completely. The dispatching of Usama Bin Laden is one of those events. We must see the photos and videos (however gory they may be) for two reasons: (1) that is the modern and preferred medium for historical records, and (2) the disclosure of facts has been so “foggy” that the warm sunlight must now be brought to bear upon the events to clear the fog. Continue reading
In the wake of a “stealth regulation” end-run where the medicare guru (Dr. Berwick, who was recess-appointed in July 2010, thus bypassing Senate confirmation) approved end-of-life consultation payments in spite of it having been pulled from the Obamacare legislation I commented on that and now another thoughtful piece appears that bears consideration: Continue reading
(To the tune of Bob Hope‘s “Thanks for the Memories” and apologies to him.) By the way, you can subscribe to this blog in the box to your right.
What are the consequences of federal policies, and what is the message of the 2010 election? Continue reading
The audacity of hope and change: take a policy like Obama-care that 70% of the country rails against, cram it down the throats of Congress and the populace, have FORMER Speaker Polosi state “we have to pass it first and then see what’s in it,” and NOW the President wants bipartisanship! That’s audacious at best. As we used to say on the bridge of the aircraft carrier, “all ahead flank, right full rudder ….” Continue reading
There is justice, after all. A corrupt organization with corrupt practices that were not repudiated and decried by allegedly responsible politicians in Washington. Its demise is a triumph for freedom as their voter registration manipulation was as direct a threat to freedom and our constitutional republic as any threat from abroad. Good riddance. Continue reading
A couple of days ago I pondered whether the main street media would cover the role of the U.S. in assisting the rescue. They did cover it, even giving some mention of the role of faith and prayer. Kudos for that. President Obama even acknowledged the role of American enterprise (in fact it was a multi-national business effort). Good for him in that. But will that faint praise alter the political rhetoric against capitalism? I bristle at the forces that would move America away from capitalism … the business of America IS business and it has done wonders for all of mankind in every corner of the world. Are there faults where change is needed? Of course, as with every endeavor. But really now …. Consider this fine article:
Amid the boundless human joy of the miners’ liberation, it may seem churlish to make such a claim. It is churlish. These are churlish times, and the stakes are high.In the United States, with 9.6% unemployment, a notably angry electorate will go to the polls shortly and dump one political party in favor of the other, on which no love is lost. The president of the U.S. is campaigning across the country making this statement at nearly every stop:
“The basic idea is that if we put our blind faith in the market and we let corporations do whatever they want and we leave everybody else to fend for themselves, then America somehow automatically is going to grow and prosper.”
Uh, yeah. That’s a caricature of the basic idea, but basically that’s right. Ask the miners.
via Daniel Henninger: Capitalism Saved the Miners – WSJ.com.
Henninger goes on to make the case quite handsomely. Read it. He describes in great detail how the profit motive is fundamental to the successes that were brought to bear in the accomplished rescue. The rescue was not a miracle — it was entrepreneurship at its finest that put the tools and technology in place.
But that capability is in ever-increasing danger, as Henninger capsulizes so succinctly:
The U.S. has a government led by a mindset obsessed with 250K-a-year “millionaires” and given to mocking “our blind faith in the market.” In a fast-moving world filled with nations intent on catching up with or passing us, this policy path is a waste of time.
America is a great country that has always been full of hope and change. We don’t need a bunch of ivory-tower professors to try to change fundamental American principles.
In fairness, there are criticisms of the business world that can be made in connection with the Chilean mine accident, as discussed in the Huffington Post article linked below. But a balanced view taken across the entire landscape and over the entire history of America, can fairly yield a conclusion no less than that free enterprise, especially within a constitutional republic, has advanced the human condition like no other system has done — or will do.
I’m trying to quit posting provocative stuff, really, but here is something to think about. Continue reading
If that title doesn’t catch your eye, how about a $1.25 BILLION payout by the federal government about which you’ve probably never heard? I’m not expressing any opinion about this matter but feel it deserves to be further promulgated.
I’m confused. If there are only 39,697 African-American farmers grand total in the entire country, then how can over 86,000 of them claim discrimination at the hands of the USDA? Where did the other 46,303 come from? Now, if you’re confused over what the heck I’m even talking about, let’s go back to the beginning of the story:
Pigford v. Glickman. In 1997, 400 African-American farmers sued the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that they had been unfairly denied USDA loans due to racial discrimination during the period 1983 to 1997. The farmers won the case, known as Pigford v. Glickman, and in 1999 the government agreed to pay $50,000 each to any farmer who had been wrongly denied an agricultural loan. By then it had grown into a class action case, and any black farmer who had filed a complaint between 1983 and 1997 would be given at least $50,000 — not limited to the original 400 plaintiffs. It was estimated at that time that there might be as many as 2,000 beneficiaries granted $50,000 each.
via Pigford v. Glickman: 86,000 claims from 39,697 total farmers?.
Note, the figure of 39,697 black farmers is as of 2007. In 1992, the relevant period, there were only 18,816 black farmers. It seems that should have been the claimant pool in the Pigford suit. No-one is claiming that the suit and the original settlement (which was done in 1999) were not appropriate, but how does this get resurrected in 2010? And this:
Conservative opposition to the settlement came to light last week in the aftermath of the Shirley Sherrod scandal. A farm collective founded by Sherrod and her husband that was forced out of business by the discriminatory practices received a $13 million settlement as part of Pigford last year, just before she was hired by the USDA. Some, including Rep. Steve King (R-IA), have called the settlement a fraud.
via Senate Strips Funding For Legal Settlement To Black Farmers From War Bill | TPMMuckraker.
Read it all for yourself, then ponder why these things don’t hit the so-called “mainstream” media. Is there fraud going on here and if so, at whose hands? Is there something “untoward” about the role of Shirley Sherrod or about her being hired at the USDA? Have we yet heard all of the story?
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