Bacon Double Cheesburger Deluxe and a Diet Coke.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama has announced a two-year pay freeze for federal employees, saying the step is necessary to help bring the federal deficit under control. The freeze would apply to all civilian federal employees but would exclude military personnel. Obama says the sacrifices of limiting government spending must be shared by government [...]

Blindfolded.

The AP is reporting that President Obama is “looking at any way to create jobs”. That’s interesting. He must not be looking very hard. Or maybe he really is looking, but managed to get something in his eye. Or maybe he’s faking it. Never waste a crisis, you know. It’d be hard to imagine that [...]

Thundercrack.

That should be the new code name for Obama’s “Stimulus” package since it’s clear by now that nothing remotely stimulating has occurred despite his gloom and doom threats (promises?) of so many months ago. And why was the Stimulus doomed from the start? Because when you open spigots of money, people are going to rush [...]

Snapshot.

Has Obama rescued the economy? You very well may think that if you get your news from the NY Times or MSNBC or any one of a trillion other mouthpieces for the Democrat party, but reality (as it often does) has intervened to spoil the party. Cast thine eyes on this from the indispensible Innocent [...]

Waste.

It’s not surprising that the much-ballyhooed “economic stimulus” hasn’t done much stimulating. President Obama and his aides argue that it’s too early to expect startling results. They have a point. A $14 trillion economy won’t revive in a nanosecond. But the defects of the $787 billion package go deeper and won’t be cured by time. [...]

Jerk his leash.

To a plurality of Americans, that’s the hope. According to a new Rassmussen poll: Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the rest of the new government spending authorized in the $787-billion economic stimulus plan should now be canceled. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 36% disagree and 20% are not sure. [...]

Gobbledegook.

Had to read this headline twice. Obama seeks fiscal responsibility mantle He’s seeking it now? I mean, it’s nice, if it’s true, but I can’ t believe that this is about anything except Obama trying to cover his ass after his MASSIVE outlay of irresponsible spending contained in the “stimulus” package. Let’s see what you [...]

You don’t say.

NEW YORK Reuters – Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday that some waste is inevitable in the spending of a $787 billion economic stimulus package, in a characteristically blunt assessment. “We know some of this money is going to be wasted,” Biden said during a roundtable discussion in New York with business leaders aimed [...]

Act now!

We’ve all seen the infomercials. The hucksters claiming that their extra special product “won’t last” or that their “supplies are limited” They tell us that their offer is only available “for a limited time” and as an extra incentive to get us to open our wallets, tell us that the “first 100 callers” get a [...]

Colossal waste.

In early January, 2 members of President Elect Obama’s economic team, Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein, published what Team Obama was billing as their plan for economic recovery. You can find the full text of the document here. In it, we were shown how unprecedented massive government spending was to be our ticket out of [...]

Why is this so hard?

OK. Imagine you own a business. Your object of course is to produce lots of quality stuff that people want to buy at prices that will permit you to make a profit. This profit will permit you to keep making these things, and keep selling them to people who want to buy them. If you [...]

Don’t get distracted.

Keep your eyes on the prize, everyone. For President Obama, autos and banks are sideshows. Enormous sideshows, to be sure, but had the financial meltdown and the looming auto bankruptcies not been handed to him, he would hardly have gone seeking to be the nation’s credit and car czar. Obama has far different ambitions. His [...]

Did you know your taxes are helping Harry Reid get re-elected?

In Burton Folsom’s book, New Deal or Raw Deal?, he describes in great detail how during the Depression, FDR increased government “relief” spending in election years, especially in so-called “swing states” which offered him the greatest return on his “investment”. Left to suffer were heavily Democratic states which were always assured in November, but which [...]

I question the timing.

Ever wonder why the Obama Administration, the Pelosi House and the Reid Senate don’t just step out of the way and let Citi, AIG, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc. all just file for Chapter 11 reorganization like any other company would have had to do? I’ve wondered the same thing.

Straight from the horse’s mouth.

From page H1412 of the final Stimulus Bill passed just weeks ago: “(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary [...]

More AIG.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) wants to pass a law that permits the federal government to recoup the recent AIG bonuses through a confiscatory tax. There are several problems with this, but this one seems an especially vexing one for Mr. Dodd (at least as far as his credibility is concerned): While the Senate was constructing [...]

Brave new world.

Of course we all realize by now that it’s in Obama’s best interests to have the economy sink as low as possible because it will permit him to unleash even more of his radical ideas under cover of “EMERGENCY ACTION!”…and we all know that the government must ACT and act BOLDLY in an emergency, right? [...]

There will be blood.

Here’s a chart from Obama’s budget that we all should take some time to consider: Obama finds something wrong with the top 1% of earners making nearly 25% of all income. You may hear that spoken at a cocktail party too over the course of the next few months. To which you should all reply—-and? [...]

A National Crisis?

What do you make of the fact that 50% of all home foreclosures last year happened in only 35 United States counties clustered in about 7 States?   Does it make you wonder whether this is a National Crisis or not? It sure makes me feel that way. Eventually, the responsible people of this country [...]

Go to the mattresses.

From David Harsanyi today: [L]et’s, for the sake of argument, concede that presidents trigger recessions. Well, then, we also must concede that nearly every initiative enacted in the first 50 days by the Obama administration has exacerbated what Bush started. Isn’t it too early to judge? It would be if Obama had not accelerated the [...]

Which little piggy went to market?

Fascinating analysis. Ever hear of Intrade.com? If not, you should go check it out. It’s a “prediction market” site that permits you to buy and sell shares of whether an event is likely to happen. For example, there is a “bet” you can make right now on the site on whether a Democratic candidate will [...]

Stay the Course?

Obama urges us to remain calm. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama expressed confidence on Tuesday that his economic reforms would work and said U.S. stocks were potentially a good buy even as he forecast a long road to economic recovery. “I’m absolutely confident that credit is going to be flowing again, that businesses [...]

No confidence.

Here’s what the Dow has done since the date the stimulus passed: Sure, lots of things affect how the stock market reacts. I’ve got a challenge for you. Explain to me in terms that do not mention the stimulus, why the market has gone down this drastically since that date. Better yet, leaving out fear [...]

Jindal to refuse money.

Well this is refreshing, isn’t it? Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that he will decline stimulus money specifically targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first state executive to officially refuse any part of the federal government’s payout to states.  In a statement, Jindal, who is slated to give the Republican response [...]

We’re all children now.

It’s obvious what’s happening. The question is why. It’s clear that this glib, self-important aristocrat from the South side of Honolulu by way of private schools in Indonesia named Obama thinks that America works better for him as a Socialized welfare state despite all evidence suggesting it works better for ITSELF as a free market [...]