Week in review

Quote of the week

“Keynesians and Krugmanites are clueless, and while they revel in their cluelessness and their ignorance is celebrated in the media as Great Wisdom, nonetheless, they are ignorant people, but (unfortunately) ignorant people who are influencing the government to destroy what is left of our economy.” – William J. Anderson

Government Cannot Create Real Jobs

by Bill Jenkins

“The problem with government jobs is generally two-fold. First, we know that they are expensive. Second they are not productive. Thus, the very nature of government work, is to funnel money from the private sector to pay for these jobs, and then to see that little or nothing is produced. Where nothing is produced, nothing is sold. Where nothing is sold, no income is created. Where no income is created, there is a fiscal loss.” more…

The U.S. Can No Longer Afford Its Empire

by Ivan Eland

“Contrary to the rhetoric of congressional Republicans, who are stridently criticizing Obama for his excessive spending, these budget deficits are largely the result of George W. Bush’s new entitlement program (Medicare prescription drug coverage), the usual Republican fake tax cuts (tax cuts without concomitant reductions in government spending), bank and insurance bailouts, and the conduct of two disastrous U.S. occupations of foreign countries. Of course, Obama is far from blameless.” more…

The Death of Global Warming

by Walter Russell Mead

“The global warming movement as we have known it is dead. Its health had been in steady decline during the last year as the once robust hopes for a strong and legally binding treaty to be agreed upon at the Copenhagen Summit faded away. By the time that summit opened, campaigners were reduced to hoping for a ‘politically binding’ agreement to be agreed that would set the stage for the rapid adoption of the legally binding treaty. After the failure of the summit to agree to even that much, the movement went into a rapid decline.” more…

Seven “Corporations of Interest” in Selling Surveillance Tools to China

by Danny O’Brien

“EFF has compiled a list of seven corporations that are reportedly selling surveillance technology to the Chinese government and related entities. We’re designating them ‘corporations of interest’.” more…

Regulars

• Just one failed bank this week. That makes 16 on the year.
• Financial Sense Editorials – Vintage Wine Turns Sour for Financiers – by Alex Daley and Doug Hornig
• Bill Bonner – Everybody Off The Beach
• The Bain Report – Articles That Affect You and Your Family

Politics and Such

• Thousands of Japanese protest American military presence in their country.
• 65% skeptical of big government and big business.
• Does your Super Bowl Party violate copyright law?
• Nancy Pelosi abuses her ability to charter military aircraft.
• Medina polling 16% in Texas gubernatorial race.
• Who’s behind “The Tea Party is Over”?
• Google and NSA will form a partnership to ward off cyber-attacks.
• Potential turmoil in the Euro Zone.
• Americans overwhelmingly reject Keynesian economics. I’ve always thought the reason the power-elite have liked Keynesian economics so much was because it flattered their egos, and allowed them to think they were more important than they actually were or ever could be. On the other hand the Austrian school gives them much lower regard, demoting them to the level of tolerable at best and parasitic at worst.
• UN agency calls for “driver’s license” for Internet users. Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Strategy officer, supports it. You still buying their products?
• Rand Paul is looking good in the Kentucky Senate race. Sarah Palin has endorsed him.
• Social Security will be cash flow negative this year for the first time in 25 years.
• FBI wants Internet Service Providers to keep logs of what sites their customers have visited for two years.

Technology

• Google phasing out support for IE6 and other older browsers.
• Robot wrestling. (suflex around 4:30)
• Documentary on the end of aging to premiere February 11th.
• Gotta love this piece by the NY Times on the Obama Budget. If you don’t get a giggle by the second paragraph, well then you probably haven’t read this far anyway. We’re all Keynesians now, right? Right?!?!

Miscellaneay

• An article on sleep deprivation.

And now the numbers…

DOW Jones Industrials – 10,012.23 (-55.10/-0.55%)
S&P 500 – 1,066.19 (-7.68/-0.72%)
VIX – 26.11 (+1.49/6.05%)
CSI 300 (China) – 3,153.087 (-51.068/-1.59%)
BSE 500 (India) – 6,314.73 (-195.17/-3.00%)
MICEX (Russia) – 1,355.64 (-63.78/-4.49%)
BOVESPA (Brazil) – 62,762.699 (-2,639.071/-4.04%)
RICI – 2,940.98 (-74.37/-2.47%)
Gold/oz – 1,052.80 (-31.00/-2.86%)
Silver/oz – 14.83 (-1.36/-8.40%)
Copper/lb – 285.75 (-19.50/-6.39%)
Oil/bbl (Brent) – 69.59 (-1.87/-2.62%)
Wheat/bu (CBT) – 473.25 (-0.75/-0.16%)
Corn/bu – 351.50 (-5.00/-1.40%)
EUR-USD – 1.3678 (-0.0185/-1.33%)
USD-JPY – 89.25 (-1.017/-1.13%)
USD-BRL – 1.8794 (-0.0156/-0.82%)
3 Month Treasury – 0.09 (+0.02/28.57%)
2 Year Treasury – 0.76 (-0.05/-6.17%)
10 Year Treasury – 3.57 (-0.01/-0.28%)
30 Year Treasury – 4.52 (+0.03/0.67%)
U.S. Public Debt (official) – 12,346,427,470,024.00 (+71,996,041,986.70/0.59%)
Baltic Dry Index (BDIY:IND) – 2,715.00 (-133.00/-4.67%)

We’ve been getting a little snow lately. That’s nice. There hasn’t been very much this winter at all.

My daughter is eating her first foods! In fact she really loves avacados. Other than that it’s just been rice cereal and oatmeal though. She really knows how to make a mess of eating. Fun stuff. I can’t believe how big she’s getting. She’s a tall one.

Otherwise not too much going on. Breakfast in Saline at the City Limits Diner at 8AM.

Have a nice “super weekend”. Seriously the NFL is trying to copyright that, or already has, or trademarked it or something. Freaking ridiculous. I’m hoping the game won’t be a blow out.

Have a great weekend!

The Bain Report

by R. Al Bain

Bailouts created more risk in system
WASHINGTON -The government’s response to the financial meltdown has made it more likely the United States will face a deeper crisis in the future, an independent watchdog at the Treasury Department warned.
Watchdog: Bailouts created more risk in system – DailyFinance

Bernanke Wins Second Term as Fed Chief
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke won Senate confirmation to a second term atop the nation’s central bank. First he had to clear a key procedural vote that prevented a Republican filibuster. In the final confirmation tally, lawmakers supported Bernanke 70 to 30. This is a disaster for the American people and our economy!
Bernanke Wins Second Term as Fed Chairman – DailyFinance

Rising Corporate Debt Could Bankrupt Firms, Crash Market by 2013
Massive amounts of corporate debt issued from 2003 to 2007 is set to come due over the next four years. The inability of companies to refinance their debt will leave them paying high interest payments, dragging down corporate earnings and forcing some companies into bankruptcy.
Credit Crisis, The Sequel? Tide of Corporate Debt Rises – DailyFinance

FHA Numbers Indicate Foreclosures Will Rise
According to a report in The Washington Post, About 9.1 percent of FHA borrowers had missed at least three payments as of December, up from 6.5 percent a year ago. In the long term a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond.
FHA Numbers Indicate Foreclosures Will Rise – DailyFinance

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi uses United States Air Force costing taxpayers $2,100,744.59 over a Two-Year Period
Travel for family & friends at taxpayer expense for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol to the tune of an additional $101,429.14
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Air Force detailing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of United States Air Force aircraft.
Judicial Watch Uncovers New Documents Detailing Pelosi’s Use of Air Force Aircraft | Judicial Watch

States Seeking To Ban Mandatory Health Insurance
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Although President Barack Obama’s push for a health care overhaul has stalled, conservative lawmakers in more than two-thirds of the states are forging ahead with constitutional amendments to ban government health insurance mandates. Is this just a grandstand play in an election year? Is this just a bone to throw at the Tea Party Conservatives for votes? Its no secret the Republican Party has to be concerned with the polls that show Tea Party Activist come ahead of Republicans in voter choice!
States Seeking To Ban Mandatory Health Insurance – Health News Story – WDIV Detroit

Tea Party seek purity and victory
The Tea Party people say they are now a multi-million-dollar organization that will have an impact on perhaps hundreds of such races all over the US.
BBC – Mark Mardell’s America: Tea Party seek purity and victory

Wal-Mart cuts about 11,200 Sam’s Club staffers
NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) said Sunday it is cutting about 11,200 jobs at its Sam’s Club warehouse division as it outsources in-store product sampling to marketing company Shopper Events in an effort to win more customers and boost lagging sales.
Wal-Mart cuts about 11,200 Sam’s Club staffers – USATODAY.com

Michigan Lawmakers aim to change stem-cell research, medical marijuana laws
LANSING (AP) — Just over a year ago, Michigan voters put their stamp of approval on measures loosening restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and letting some sick people use marijuana for medical reasons.
Lawmakers aim to change stem-cell research, medical marijuana laws – The Morning Sun News: Serving Clare, Gratiot and Isabell..

Wind tower company gets federal tax credits
Michigan companies that make solar panels, wind turbines and other alternative energy products are getting more than $200 million in tax credits through the federal stimulus package.
Michigan solar, wind firms get federal tax credits | R&D Mag

Tax Loophole for Heirs of Super-Wealthy Could Cost U.S. Billions
As a result, there’s effectively an estate-tax hiatus between January 1 and December 31, 2010, so a fortune above $3.5 million, usually taxed at 45%, will not be taxed at all this year. (The tax affects approximately 5,500 estates annually.) Next January 1, the tax returns with a vengeance: a 55% tax on annual incomes of more than $1 million.
Link

Republican Sen.-elect Brown says he supports abortion rights
Brown tells ABC’s “This Week” that he disagrees with his party’s position that the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion should be overturned.
Sen.-elect Brown says he supports abortion rights – washingtonpost.com

Family link is found between Obama and Scott Brown – latimes.com

He lost a senator but gained a cousin | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/31/2010

Michael and Me and Taxpayer Makes Three
It is no secret that Mackinac Center scholars have been fierce critics of the Michigan Film Incentive. We are not the only ones. Several Michigan legislators, Lansing budget analysts and scholars have also spoken out against the program as being ineffective and too expensive.
Michael Moore, Michigan Film Incentive [Mackinac Center]

Graphical Representation of Rising Unemployment by County
This map in interactive real time shows just how bad unemployment is by county in this recession, a real eye opener! Click link below then click play.
multimediafinal

Why Obama Was Wrong to Slap the Supremes
Wednesday night’s swipe at the Supreme Court was a low point for constitutional government in America. Sad to say, the highlight of President Obama’s first State of the Union address on Wednesday was when he took the opportunity to openly condemn the Supreme Court. For the first time in memory, a president lashed out with the justices seated just a few feet away from him. Talk about “in your face”! The attack from the president prompted his equally-partisan supporters in Congress to erupt in raucous applause. This marks a low point for constitutional government in America, where the third branch of government is publicly humiliated by our head of state, and where an entire political party joined in this shameful display of disrespect for our Constitution.
FOXNews.com – Why Obama Was Wrong to Slap the Supremes

More than 5 Million Homes Will be Worth Less than 75% of Their Mortgage
The likelihood that homeowners will reach a point of despair also increases as more homes drop below the value of the mortgages that their owners carry. That in turn makes it more likely that people will hand their keys over to the bank.
- DailyFinance

In a $3.8 Trillion Budget, Pork Is Hardly the Biggest Problem
No one can deny that a budget with a $3.83 trillion bottom line has a fair amount of waste embedded in it. But like pornography, art and classic rock, government waste is in the eye of the beholder. The bigger issue is a congressional culture of out-of-control spending. The biggest issue may be that Politicians are self severing and have forgotten what civic duty is all about! It doesn’t matter what party Democrat or Republican, they both have forgotten about the very citizens who elected them as their voice!
In a $3.8 Trillion Budget, Pork Is Hardly the Biggest Problem – DailyFinance

Republicans Uncertain Over Who Should Challenge Obama in 2012
A new poll shows Republican voters are deeply divided over who they want to carry the party mantle in the 2012 presidential race. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leads the pack, a couple other names are close behind and a whopping 42 percent of Republicans are listed as undecided. The 42 percent of undecided voters are Tea Party Conservative Republicans who are feed up with the direction that the party has taken! This may be why the Republicans are pandering to this group, however, they will not be fooled by the rederick!
FOXNews.com – Republicans Uncertain Over Who Should Challenge Obama in 2012

Obama, live with Senate Democrats
President Obama is huddling with Senate Democrats this morning to discuss legislative strategy. It’s a Socialist strategy that We The People do not want!
Obama, live with Senate Democrats – The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency

Obama Rips Vegas
In remarks yesterday at a town hall meeting in NH, Obama touted fiscal responsibility, pleding to rein in government spending. “You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college,” Obama said.
President Obama apologizes for Las Vegas remark | dscriber

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” – Thomas Jefferson

Week in review

Quote of the week

“There are no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises

None of Your Business!

by Congressman Ron Paul, MD

“You may not have heard of the American Community Survey, but you will. The national census, which historically is taken every ten years, has expanded to quench the federal bureaucracy’s ever-growing thirst to govern every aspect of American life. The new survey, unlike the traditional census, is taken each and every year at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. And it’s not brief. It contains 24 pages of intrusive questions concerning matters that simply are none of the government’s business, including your job, your income, your physical and emotional heath, your family status, your dwelling, and your intimate personal habits.” more…

The Misesian Vision

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.

“In the end, this is what it always comes down to for the state: the preservation of its own power. Everything it does, it does to secure its power and to forestall the diminution of its power. I submit to you that everything else you hear, in the end, is a cover for that fundamental motive.

“And yet, this power requires the cooperation of public culture. The rationales for power must convince the citizens. This is why the state must be alert to the status of public opinion. This is also why the state must always encourage fear among the population about what life would be like in the absence of the state.

…

“The Left warns us that if we don’t have leviathan, our front yards will be flooded from rising oceans, big business moguls will rob us blind, the poor will starve, the masses will be ignorant, and everything we buy will blow up and kill us. The Right warns that in the absence of leviathan, society will collapse in cesspools of immorality lorded over by swarthy terrorists preaching a heretical religion.

“The goal of both the Left and Right is that we make our political choices based on these fears. It doesn’t matter so much which package of fear you choose; what matters is that you support a state that purports to keep your nightmare from becoming a reality.” more…

Obama Asks Governors to Commit Sovereignty Suicide

by Lawrence A. Hunter Ph.D.

“If history has taught us anything, it is to beware of ‘cooperative partnerships’ between the federal government and states. They invariably result in an expansion of federal authority and reach at the expense of the states and a diminution of individual rights and freedoms in the name of the general welfare and national security. So-called ‘cooperative federalism’ is a snare and a delusion.” more…

Regulars

• The Bain Report.
• Bill Bonner – The Descent of Money
• Financial Sense Editorials – What’s a Company’s Gold Worth? – by Louis James & Andrey Dashkov
• Six failed banks this week. That’s 15 on the year.

Politics and such

• Keith Olberman on the SCOTUS decision regarding corporate “rights”. There’s a kernel of truth here, and in retrospect I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this whole thing. (video 11:00)
• “Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem (music video 7:32). Here’s the main site with lyrics, the story behind the video, and the video too of course.
• Can you help Adam Kokesh with some money so that he can get his supporters to a Republican county convention in New Mexico? Or perhaps you live in northern New Mexico and can be a delegate to one of these conventions yourself?
• The State of the Union has come and gone, but this might have been fun: The State of the Union Drinking Game.
• On the other hand here’s a transcript of said speech if you’d like to try playing the game anyway. And of course various bits of commentary. And a fact check on parts of the speech as well.
• Ben Bernanke is reappointed The Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System by a 70-30 vote in the Senate. Meanwhile some possibility of criminality on Bernanke’s part in the AIG bailout is surfacing.
• Congress has just voted for creating a $50 million park in the Virgin Islands.
• The $787 billion dollar stimulus package that was passed last February now has an $867 price tag.
• Study says cell phone bans don’t lower incidence of accidents.
• Utah GOP passed an Audit the Fed resolution.
• Most voters don’t believe President’s assertions about economy.

Technology

• Apple iPad review.

And now the numbers…

DOW Jones Industrials – 10,067.33 (-105.65/-1.04%)
S&P 500 – 1,073.87 (-17.89/-1.64%)
VIX – 24.62 (-2.69/-9.85%)
CSI 300 (China) – 3,204.155 (-162.042/-4.81%)
BSE 500 (India) – 6,509.90 (-221.01/-3.28%)
MICEX (Russia) – 1,419.42 (+9.04/0.64%)
BOVESPA (Brazil) – 65,401.77 (-818.269/-1.24%)
RICI – 3,015.35 (-109.80/-3.51%)
Gold/oz – 1,083.80 (-8.20/-0.75%)
Silver/oz – 16.19 (-0.742/-4.38%)
Copper/lb – 305.25 (-29.45/-8.80%)
Oil/bbl (Brent) – 71.46 (-1.37/-1.88%)
Wheat/bu (CBT) – 474.00 (-24.50/-4.91%)
Corn/bu – 356.50 (-8.25/-2.26%)
EUR-USD – 1.3863 (-0.0276/-1.95%)
USD-JPY – 90.267 (+0.443/0.49%)
USD-BRL – 1.895 (+0.0703/3.85%)
3 Month Treasury – 0.07 (+0.03/75.00%)
2 Year Treasury – 0.81 (+0.02/2.53%)
10 Year Treasury – 3.58 (-0.03/-0.83%)
30 Year Treasury – 4.49 (-0.04/-0.88%)
U.S. Public Debt (official) – 12,274,431,428,037.30 (-25,731,820,007.40/-0.21%)
Baltic Dry Index (BDIY:IND) – 2,848.00 (-356.00/-11.11%)

I went to the Willow Run Tea Party Caucus last night, which explains the lateness of the newsletter…

Anyway, the meeting was interesting. Met a few new people, which is always nice. Steven Mobley, who is running for District 62 Representative (Battle Creek Area) talked with us a bit.

One thing occurred to me on the way home though. The whole limited government thing has previously failed because the people who espoused limited government were mostly concerned with eliminating programs that didn’t work. That is, if there was a program in their own backyard or one that they depended upon, well then, it was okay. They were more insistent upon eliminating the other things. The result of this, which is due to the spirit of compromise that must exist in politics, is that nothing ever gets cut, and in fact that almost everything grows.

To truly embrace limited government philosophy we must be willing to mercilessly cut out the programs that work along with the ones that don’t. To cut out our pet neighborhood program as we demand that other communities cut theirs. To lead by example.

Otherwise being for “limited government” just means being for “big government that works”. And of course “works” is in the eye of the beholder, and we are right back where we started. So, to spare the program in your own neighborhood and expect the community down the street to eliminate theirs is the height of hypocrisy, and will never stop government growth.

You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Alright, that’s all for now. Have a great weekend!

The Bain Report

by R. Al Bain

Michigan Legislators get juicy Benefit Package
LANSING — No longer running for governor, Lt. Gov. John Cherry says he doesn’t know what he’ll do when he’s out of office next Jan. 1. His $99,390 annual pension will soften the landing. That’s what he’s been collecting since 2002, after 20 years in the Legislature. Cherry, 58, also has 401(k) retirement savings as lieutenant governor, for which the state contributes up to 7% of his salary. And he receives lifetime health insurance as a retired lawmaker. Senate Republicans said rescinding the benefits for current lawmakers who are vested already may violate the Michigan Constitution, an assertion Democrats dispute. The Senate GOP plan would keep the retirement health benefit for current lawmakers who have already qualified for it. The current benefits includes lifetime health insurance for retired lawmakers, which is generous by most standards. They pay 10% of the cost of premiums, and $5 or $10 co-pays for prescription drugs. Retired lawmakers, who are eligible for the benefits at 55 years old if they’ve served at least six years in the House or Senate. That’s one hell of a benefit package that most citizens can only dream of receiving! Politicians get this working for the most part, part-time for the people!
Legislators take on public employees’ pay and benefits | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Anger at Banksters grows as Credit stays Scarce: Lack of loans is stunting growth
If you must borrow money these days, brace yourself to run into a brick wall. While economists say the recession is over, anger and angst are far more common across America than low-cost credit — despite all the taxpayer bailout money that went to banks, which are back to paying big executive bonuses. A tight-fisted lending environment doesn’t help the recovery. Credit is the oil of our economic engine. Without access to credit, many consumers cannot buy cars or homes, and companies cannot expand, secure supplies to land new contracts and hire more workers. Real estate projects sit on drawing boards or half-done, stalled by lack of credit for the developers.
Ways to solidify your credit in these shaky times | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Existing Home Sales Plunged 16.7% in December
The nearly year-long, positive trend in the U.S. housing sector ended 2009 on a sour note, as existing home sales plunged 16.7% in December to a 5.45 million-unit annualized rate, the National Association of Realtors announced Monday. Sales fell as the federal government’s original tax credit program expired. December’s existing sales tumble was the largest one-month drop since the NAR started keeping records for this statistic.
Existing Home Sales Plunged 16.7% in December – DailyFinance

Bill Gates: Recovery Will Take Years
Microsoft chairman says it will take several more years for the economy to fully rebound from the great recession. “The budget’s very, very out of balance,” Gates warned. And even as the economy comes back, without changes in tax and entitlement policies, it won’t get back into balance. And at some point, financial markets will look at that and it will cause problems.
Bill Gates: Recovery Will Take Years — InformationWeek

Beware of four new Bubbles– gold and oil — stocks, and government bonds.
Since the start of 2009, oil has returned to the danger zone by jumping 63% to $75 a barrel, and gold has risen more than 20% to set astounding new records by climbing above $1,100 an ounce. After briefly returning to historically normal valuations in March, stocks are now selling at price-to-earnings multiples 40% above their historic range of 14, and 10-year Treasuries are so pricey that they yield 1.5% less than they did in 2007.
Beware the 4 new asset bubbles – Jan. 25, 2010

What Would a Tea Party-Led U.S. Look Like?
Tea Partiers have been angry about many things including taxes, bank bailouts and health care reform. These citizens favor limited government and a free market. The writer of this article is the very reason we as a country our in the shape we’re in! It’s a typical media propaganda piece which the liberal media has been feeding the American Public for far to long!
What the U.S. Might Look Like If the Tea Party Led It – DailyFinance

Next governor will need a rhino’s hide
The title of this article is not to be confused with (RINO) Republican in name only! Two things the people of Michigan ought to want in their next governor: an open mind and a thick hide. To elaborate: Despite the rah-rah resurgent feeling at the auto show, Michigan is still in desperate economic straits. The next governor has to have an open mind for ideas, proposals and plans from anywhere, not just his or her party or the special interests that bankrolled his or her campaign. The only “beholden” in our next leader should be to Michigan, first and last. That means putting Michigan ahead of Republican, Democrat, liberal, conservative, business, labor, east side, west side or U.P. and working tirelessly for the betterment of this state and its people.
Next governor will need a rhino’s hide | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Republicans must earn their election victories
The stakes in this fall’s elections go far beyond the fate of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. The fate of America is on the line. The Republicans need to understand that — and to understand that they are not simply “due” because of polls.
Republicans must earn their election victories | detnews.com | The Detroit News#ixzz0dXP2NPBH

ObamaCare Alive And Well: Pelosi – “Regardless of MA, It Will Happen”
Obama the Democrats in Congress and the extreme liberal left are out of touch, blaming voters and everyone else as Brown goes to Town they are still conspiring in the dark corners behind closed doors in Washington to push through ObamaCare.
ObamaCare Alive And Well

Is this the future of America?
“We are getting a glimpse of what happens when Muslims who refuse to accept American values and principles gain political power in an American community” Principal Imad Fadlallah of Dearborn’s Fordson High School has systematically weeded out Christian teachers, coaches and employees and has terminated, demoted or reassigned them because of their Christian beliefs. “Fadlallah has publicly stated ‘he sees Dearborn Fordson High School as a Muslim school, both in students and faculty, and is working to that end.’”
Legendary Christian coach canned after student converts

A Messiah Treading Instead of Walking on Water
What our Canadian friends have to say: The silence at the White House on the First Anniversary of the Obama inauguration is deafening. But in order to see how they’re all feeling, all you have to do is to tune in on the histrionics of MSNBC where the tingle of the thrill is gone. It’s over, the voters of Mass. took aim and shattered forever Obama’s image as “The Messiah”.
A Messiah Treading Instead of Walking on Water

Ben Bernanke says we have no problem
This video should make people think twice about listening to anything that Chairmen of the Fed Ben Bernanke says. It’s a compilation of statements he’s made from 2005-2007 that will have you 100% certain America is doomed if we continue to value what this moron says.
YouTube – Bernanke: Why are we still listening to this guy?

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) Airport: Your Tax Dollars
John Murthas Airport only has three flights a day to Washington, DC, but it received has received over $150 million dollars of taxpayer money and then another $800,000 in Stimulus Money. Murthas personal federal funded airport, which allows him to quickly tuck his tail and run from DC like the POS coward he is, after bashing the troops every day, has only 6,700 passengers each year.
YouTube – Glenn Beck John Murthas Airport

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) An Insult To Our Democracy
Rep. Jack Murtha presides, ignores reality to push through his preferences without a vote. The no votes clearly have it but is totally ignored!
YouTube – An Insult To Our Democracy

Quote Of The Week: by Burt Prelutsky, LA Times
“Frankly, I don’t know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I’m not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we’re number one. There’s no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on ‘Macbeth’. The three of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don’t know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words.”

Week in review

Quote of the week

“A Big Government Republican politician, Scott Brown, saw the massive public opposition to the healthcare bill, and decided to pander to it. He did this in spite of his own long history of supporting Big Government schemes, including the health insurance mandates inflicted on the people of Massachusetts by Republican Mitt Romney.” – Jim Babka, DownsizeDC.org

Strategy: More evidence that pressure works

by James Wilson

“First there were Tea Parties. They were considered a passing fancy. Then, at Town Hall meetings Members of Congress returned to their districts during recess and got socked in the face. Constituents were angry. They hated the healthcare bill, and all the spending and borrowing. The politicians felt the PRESSURE, and the potential Republican defectors flip-flopped, renewing their opposition to the healthcare bill. But that wasn’t the end of it.” more…

State of Disunion

by Mark Alexander

“On Wednesday, 27 January, Barack Hussein Obama will deliver his first ‘State of the Union’ speech as president, a self evaluation of his first year’s achievements.

“Sprinkled between his infamous ‘let me be clear’ or ‘make no mistake’ introduction to his lies, he will, characteristically, attempt to spin a plethora of failures into something including these phony fallback phrases: back from the brink; signs of recovery; restored our reputation; achieved some successes; more work yet to do; fiscal restraint; greed on Wall Street; affordable health care; relief for working families; job creation.” more…

Andrew Jackson: Then and Now

by Dan O’Connor

“The presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) was one of the most controversial and transcendent periods in US history. The two major debates that reached their peak during his time in office concerned secession and the central bank (then the Second Bank of the United States). Although Jeffersonians and libertarians generally disagree with Jackson’s stance on secession, Jackson did follow in Jefferson’s footsteps by bringing down the Bank.” more…

Prepare Now to Escape Obama’s Retirement Trap

by Ron Holland

“Although the historical government solution to unsustainable government debt loads has always been the destruction of the debts by currency depreciation and eventual hyperinflation, there is always an intermediate step used to buy more time for the politicians in power. This action, usually sidestepped and downplayed by the establishment historians paid to hide the real facts of history is wealth confiscation. Napoleon had it right when he stated, ‘History is a state of lies agreed upon.’

“The largest source of liquid private wealth remaining in the United States are the $15 trillion in private retirement funds and the ultimate ownership, control and future of these funds have already been compromised and exchanged for the favorable tax treatment of private retirement plans. Congress writes the laws, so they can tax, penalize, hold your funds hostage and although they’d never use the word, “confiscate” your assets at their discretion.” more…

Regulars

• Comics
• The Bain Report – Articles that Affect You and Your Family
• Bill Bonner – The Last Shall Be First
• Financial Sense Editorials – Dude, Is That Gold Bar for Real? – by Doug Hornig
• Five failed banks today. That makes nine on the year. Charter Bank of New Mexico is among the five.

Education

• Sushi etiquette

Politics and Such

• US blocking Costa Rican sugar imports until they pass monopolistic intellectual property laws.
• Deb Medina is polling 12% in Texas gubernatorial race. Here’s a bit on her presence in the race.
• The “drug war” may be winding down in Latin America.
• Euro rupture could occur over debt crisis in Greece.
• San Diego police arrest a Jets fan for being a Jets fan. Includes video. Of course at the point he resisted the idiotic assault on his person, well then they could grab him for resisting arrest. Only in Amerika my friends. Only in Amerika.
• Supreme Court overturns laws that prohibit corporations and unions from contributing to political campaigns. Here’s some commentary from the 10th Amendment Center on that.
• The Day Obama Care Died (music video, 3:19)
• Nice graph of returns on various commodities over the last decade.
• Scott Brown on healthcare – after the election.  (video, 0:31) The money quote: “it’s important to offer some sort of basic plan”.

My Two Cents: What the Election of Scott Brown Means

“This is not the kind of Republican that makes a free-marketer proud. Rather Brown’s stances epitomize the neo-conservative worldview – big government at home, intervention abroad, wrapped in a do nothing cloak of social conservatism. Nonetheless, considering the circumstances, I’m elated to have him.” more…

And now the numbers…

DOW Jones Industrials – 10,172.98 (-436.67/-4.12%)
S&P 500 – 1,091.76 (-44.27/-3.90%)
VIX – 27.31 (+9.40/52.48%)
CSI 300 (China) – 3,366.197 (-116.541/-3.35%)
BSE 500 (India) – 6,730.91 (-274.36/-3.92%)
MICEX (Russia) – 1,410.38 (-42.29/-2.91%)
BOVESPA (Brazil) – 66,220.039 (-2,758.258/-4.00%)
RICI – 3,125.15 (-103.74/-3.21%)
Gold/oz – 1,092.00 (-38.50/-3.41%)
Silver/oz – 16.932 (-1.495/-8.11%)
Copper/lb – 334.70 (-1.90/-0.56%)
Oil/bbl (Brent) – 72.83 (-4.28/-5.55%)
Wheat/bu (CBT) – 498.50 (-13.50/-2.64%)
Corn/bu – 364.75 (-6.75/-1.82%)
EUR-USD – 1.4139 (-0.0248/-1.72%)
USD-JPY – 89.824 (-0.946/-1.04%)
USD-BRL – 1.8247 (+0.0524/2.96%)
3 Month Treasury – 0.04 (-0.01/-20.00%)
2 Year Treasury – 0.79 (-0.07/-8.14%)
10 Year Treasury – 3.61 (-0.06/-1.63%)
30 Year Treasury – 4.53 (-0.05/-1.09%)
U.S. Public Debt (official) – 12,300,163,248,044.70 (+41,618,219,129.50/0.34%)
Baltic Dry Index (BDIY:IND) – 3,204.00 (-95.00/-2.88%)

So how about the color? I think I like it. Actually I might just put the numbers in a table soon. I think that would make things easier to read.

I did wrote a piece earlier this week on Scott Brown. See My Two Cents above.

Nothing much going on this weekend. Lots of homework. Linear algebra and statistics. Fun stuff actually, but it looks like that’ll probably be a chunk of my time.

Actually, one very cool thing will happen this weekend. My daughter is going to have her first real food. If you can call rice cereal “real food”. In any case that should be fun. My wife is setting me up to be the camera man, since my sister got us this handy little video camera for Christmas.

I had to bathe my dogs today. It was thawing out a bit outside and they got ridiculously muddy. Who would have thought a doberman could have so much dirt in his fur. There must have been more dirt than hair.

Well that’s it for me tonight. Have a great weekend and soak up those championship games on Sunday!

The Bain Report

by R. Al Bain

Home Builder Confidence Falls to Lowest Level Since June
A modest setback on the housing front, as home builder confidence unexpectedly fell in January, as concern about job growth and the large supply of foreclosed homes on the market weighed on builders’ sentiment.
January 2010 Home Builder Confidence Index Falls to Lowest Level Since June 2009 – DailyFinance

TARP Tax Trickery: Banks Won’t Really Pay Back All $90 billion
Did you hear about the new tax proposed by President Obama, designed to recoup $90 billion in lost TARP money from the nation’s largest financial firms? Well, there’s a catch: The banks won’t actually repay all $90 billion, because the new tax will be tax deductible.
TARP Tax Trickery: Banks Won’t Really Pay Back All $90 billion – DailyFinance

Five Potential Potholes on the Road to U.S. Recovery
News that business inventories and industrial production are rising suggests the U.S. economic recovery is on track. But unlike previous recessions, there are five potential “potholes” in the road ahead. Declining employment and increasing commercial real estate foreclosures are two possible biggies.
Five Potential Potholes on the Road to U.S. Recovery – DailyFinance

Food Shortages Coming? Famed Investor Jim Rogers Thinks So
A severe food shortage is on its way, according to famed investor Jim Rogers. Food inventories are the lowest in decades and “many farmers cannot get loans to buy fertilizer now, even though we have big shortages developing,” he said.
Famed Investor Jim Rogers Says Food Shortages Coming – DailyFinance

Wall Street Bankers Make Stunning $145 Billion for 2009
In a move that is sure to irritate an already outraged public, major U.S. banks paid out $145 billion in compensation in 2009, up 18% from 2008
Wall Street Bankers Make Stunning $145 Billion for 2009 – DailyFinance

Obama Surrenders U.S. Sovereignty: His INTERPOL Executive Order
Unsettling issuance of an executive order recently signed by President Barack Obama. Executive Order — Amending Executive Order 12425, signed December 16 and released a day later, grants the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) rights on American soil that place it beyond the reach of our own law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Obama’s order gives the group the authority to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests — which means this foreign law enforcement organization can operate free of an important safeguard against governmental abuse. “Property and assets,” including the organization’s records, cannot be searched or seized. Their physical locations and records are now immune from U.S. legal or investigative authorities.
Pajamas Media » Obama Surrenders U.S. Sovereignty: His INTERPOL Executive Order

Is ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Gearing Up for a Comeback?
But does the nation really want it? It’s normal and expected for politicians to minimize the concerns of their critics, but LaHood seems to want to deny that the critics of Cash for Clunkers even exist. A 2009 Rasmussen Reports survey found that 54% of Americans oppose Cash for Clunkers, compared with just 35% who support it. Edmunds.com estimated that the program ended up costing taxpayers about $24,000 for every car sale that it stimulated.
Is ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Gearing Up for a Comeback? – DailyFinance

ObamaCare Backdoor Deal Creates Public Option
ALERT: Congress is forcing Americans to have health insurance — and prove it on their tax returns or face a fine. The Internal Revenue Service will enforce this new health insurance mandate.
Congress.org – : Letter to Senator Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina): ObamaCare Backdoor Deal Creates Public Option

Fannie, Freddie, Fraud
Edward Pinto, a former chief credit officer for Fannie Mae and a housing expert, began to penetrate the media fog. Pinto has documented that as far back as 1993, Fannie and Freddie were buying risky subprime and Alt-A loans, but routinely misrepresenting them as prime. Let me drive this point home. Without Fannie and Freddie’s certification of millions of bad loans as safe, other banks both domestic and foreign wouldn’t have bought them. More importantly, world financial markets wouldn’t have relied on those packaged loans as collateral and collapsed when they went bad.
Fannie, Freddie, Fraud

Conspiracy Theories: The Council on Foreign Relations
The common link between most conspiracy theories is that there are persons or organizations attempting to put a one world government in place. The organizations most often mentioned in conspiracy theories are The Council on Foreign Relations.
Conspiracy Theories

Unemployment Rates by County January 2007 4.6%
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 31 million people currently unemployed — that’s including those involuntarily working parttime and those who want a job, but have given up on trying to find one. In the face of the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression, millions of Americans are hurting. “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession,” as created by labor writer LaToya Egwuekwe, serves as a vivid representation of just how much. Watch the deteriorating transformation of the U.S. economy from January 2007 — approximately one year before the start of the recession — to the most recent unemployment data available today.
multimediafinal

Income Tax Never Ratified, So Why Pay?
The Federal Reserve, which is no more Federal than Federal Express, has long since been carrying out strictly enforced laws in regards to the income tax, however, in light of the Tax Honesty movement as well as We The People Foundation, new light is being shed upon this once complex and strung out tax code.
Income Tax Never Ratified, So Why Pay?

Largest Embezzlement in American History
While the mainstream media swarmed all over Bernie Madoff, AIG and corporate billionaires, the gentlemen of the press, who are so proud of fighting for the Little Guy, were mostly out to an expense-account lunch when Melissa King allegedly made off with $42 million rightfully belonging to members of the Laborers International Union of North American (LIUNA). In what is being called the largest union embezzlement in American history, the LIUNA Local 147 (New York) office administration was apparently unsatisfied with her meager $500,000 a year paycheck. So much for the Union Representation!
» Most of MSM Yawns, Rolls Over As Largest Union Theft in History Goes Largely Unreported – Big Journalism

The Federal Reserve made $45 billion last year
The Fed has refused to detail its loan activities. The Administration recently raised the prospects of a large tax on banks to cover losses taxpayers may have taken on bank aid including the TARP. The Fed’s numbers raise the issue of whether the government has already profited substantially from its bailout activity.
The Fed Earns An Astounding $45 Billion In 2009 – 24/7 Wall St.

Even the White House Is Not Immune to Plunging Real Estate Market
How much is the White House worth? Online real estate database Zillow came up with $292,386,000 as of Jan. 18, that is down $15 million since the Obama family took up residence a year ago, and down another $24 million since George W. Bush’s final year in office.
Even the White House Is Not Immune to Plunging Real Estate Market – DailyFinance

Initial Jobless Claims Surge on Year-End Filings
Jobless claims jumped 36,000 to 482,000 for the week ending January 16, 2010
Jobless Claims Surge 36,000 on Year-End Filings – DailyFinance

‘Fat Cat’ Bonuses at Morgan Stanley Despite Dismal Year
To understand why the American public is so enraged by Wall Street’s bonus structure, one needn’t look further than New York-based Morgan Stanley. Despite a dismal year in 2009, the company paid out record bonuses and salaries.
‘Fat Cat’ Bonuses at Morgan Stanley Despite Dismal Year – DailyFinance

Obama’s New Order: No Government Contracts for Tax Cheats
On Wednesday, President Obama signed an executive order directing federal agencies to keep contractors who are delinquent on their taxes from getting new government contracts. But I guess it’s ok to nominate TAX CHEATS to his administration!
Obama’s New Order: No Government Contracts for Tax Cheats – DailyFinance

Obama’s Domestic Agenda Needs a Reset
I think Massachusetts Republican State Senator Scott Brown’s victory in the election to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy is 40% a result of his far superior campaign — his defeated opponent was a painfully inept campaigner — and 60% a bolt of lightning delivered to the White House’s nervous system from voters in what had previously been thought of as the safest Democratic state in the union. The message traveling down that bolt of lightning was that perennial favorite — it’s the economy, stupid.
Obama’s Domestic Agenda Needs a Reset – DailyFinance

December Housing Starts Fall 4% in Weak End to Awful Year
Housing starts unexpectedly fell 4% in December to close out the nation’s worst year for the housing sector since the end of World War II. In 2009, housing starts plunged 39% to a record low 554,000.
December Housing Starts Fall 4% in Weak End to Awful Year – DailyFinance

State GOP Reinvigorated
Jubilation among Michigan Republicans and hand-wringing for state Democrats. Those were the reactions in the wake of Scott Brown’s surprising victory Tuesday to win the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Edward Kennedy for 47 years.”This will be a big help in waking up a lot of donors and energizing traditional Republicans,” said Lansing political consultant John Truscott. “After last night, they’re going to … open their wallets.”
State GOP reinvigorated | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

The Significance of Scott Brown’s Win in Massachusetts

The election of Scott Brown to the US Senate by the people of Massachusetts is the big political news of the week, and why wouldn’t it be? Massachusetts hasn’t had a Republican Senator since the 1970s.

So who is Scott Brown? What did his campaign look like? How was he able to pull it off? And most of all, what does his win mean?

After a stint in local politics that began in 1992, Brown was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1998 and then to the Massachusetts Senate in 2004.

According to his Wikipedia entry he was a supporter of the 2006 Massachusetts healthcare reform agenda, which mandated that all residents of that state be required to purchase health insurance. On foreign policy he is in support of further intervention in Afghanistan. Moreover, he has supported regional cap-and-trade.

This is not the kind of Republican that makes a free-marketer proud. Rather Brown’s stances epitomize the neo-conservative worldview – big government at home, intervention abroad, wrapped in a do nothing cloak of social conservatism. Nonetheless, considering the circumstances, I’m elated to have him.

And of course we all understand what the circumstances are. The Democrats have the House of Representatives, a super-majority in the Senate, and the White House. That’s a lot of power, and the Democrats have been using it to legislate all manner of nonsense, but most importantly they have been trying to ram “healthcare reform” down the throats of a strongly opposed American public.

So seeing the way the winds were blowing Scott Brown opportunistically seized upon these circumstances and framed the entire election in terms of them. It was a masterful strategy.

By framing his campaign as a referendum on the Obama administration, and in particular healthcare reform, Brown was able to woo disaffected Massachusetts residents to his side. In addition, by playing up his soon to be pivotal role in the healthcare debate he was able to spread his fund raising efforts out to disaffected Americans nationwide.

The simplest explanation for his election is that a majority of Bay Staters were against the current healthcare reform efforts and saw the election of Brown as a way to stop the whole thing dead in its tracks. Of course, there are probably a good number of people who would have voted for him anyway, but what I am referring to is the up swell that put him over the top. This was almost certainly due to the healthcare issue. And that’s it.

If you read this election tightly then you will concur that in a “normal election” under “normal circumstances” a Democrat would have won, just like they did for the last 30+ years. Basically extraordinary circumstances resulted in an extraordinary result. That’s it. Just move along, There’s nothing else to see here.

A more sophisticated explanation is that this election was about the balance of power in American politics. Now, I’d like to think that was the case, as it would mean that Americans were really thinking about the way things work in Washington. That they were in fact not voting against healthcare reform so much as voting for general gridlock. If this really entered the minds of most people as they pulled the lever yesterday, then we have turned a corner. It would mean that people are starting to think a couple of levels deeper than what is on the surface. Unfortunately, as much as I hope for it, I doubt this is actually the case.

Another explanation proffered is that conservatism generally and Republicans specifically are on the rise again, well because Republicans are good and Democrats are bad. Yeah sure, the pundits wrap it in all kinds of other words, and a mess of hyperbole, but “Republicans good – Democrats bad” is what this argument is at its core.

But Brown is hardly conservative. Rather he’s a liberal who calls himself a Republican, a Republican in Name Only, a RINO. Therefore, while this may be a win for Republicans, this is not a win for conservatives except insofar as it puts the brakes on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid express train to hell.

In fact if this is the kind of Republicans that are going to be elected in November I’d much rather have the Democrats, as conservatives are more likely to relax their guard if anyone sporting the Republican brand is elected.

The explanation that the sour grapes losers throw around is that Coakley was a bad candidate, ran a bad campaign, and it was all her fault that she lost. Of course you only think this if you don’t want to face reality, and the simple fact that the wheels are coming off the Obama bus. Actually if you believe this then I prefer that you continue to believe it.

One final explanation I would like to explore is that there is populist revolution underway. That the people are finally seeing Washington for what it is, a disastrous waste of resources and a net value drain on our country. If this is the case then it will be proved out by the election of small government Republicans in November. People who seek to undo rather than do, who seek to return most domestic power to the states and the people themselves. Time will tell. I am cautiously optimistic.

So at the end of the day, at least for now, the simple explanation is probably correct. The election of Scott Brown was a strong rebuke of Obama’s first year in office and especially the Democratic efforts to “reform” healthcare. He won on his stated platform. That’s it.

As to whether Brown’s win is a harbinger for the November elections, we’ll have to wait and see. The Democrats could learn their lesson, lighten up on the radical agenda a bit, the economy could improve, and unemployment could draw down.

This all could happen, but I suspect that it will not. Rather the Democrats will probably learn all of the wrong lessons, attempt to repackage themselves on the outside and become ever sneakier when it comes to pushing their agenda. This is what happens when the tools in the marketing department come to run your country.

And of course if you’ve been reading my weekly then you know exactly what I think about the economy and unemployment, that the whole “recovery” is a farce waiting to reveal itself.

So the stars are probably aligning in such a way that 2010 will see the Republicans making gains, but if we just elect a bunch of Scott Browns then the joke is on us.

On the other hand, you can help prevent this from happening by supporting good candidates like Rand Paul and Peter Schiff.

Week in review

Quote of the week

“A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both.” – James Madison

In Defense of Tea Parties

by Tunku Varadarajan

“Yes, the populists fear and hate the big businesses and Wall Street; but—and this is the heartening thing—they have not let this turn them against capitalism and the free market. They seem truly to have taken in the point, long emphasized by libertarians and others, that big business is not the same thing as capitalism or the free market, that it is in fact often their enemy. Perhaps the Obama administration has finally driven this point home, as it has been an object lesson in how the party of big government is really in bed with big business, giving it all the bailouts and favors. So by this reckoning, the Tea Parties would be a very serious development in which anti-big business forces would finally join with anti-big government forces to create a genuine free-market party that would maximize the opportunities of the little guy.” more…

Third party talk among conservatives is a waste

by Drew McKissick

“The dirty little secret among party insiders (of either party) is that the number of people that participate in the actual organizational meetings where leadership is elected is incredibly low. Far lower even than the small percentage that participates in primary elections.” more…

The Drug War vs the Bill of Rights

by Anthony Gregory

“In America, our liberties our ostensibly protected by the U.S. Constitution and particularly the Bill of Rights. How much has the drug war compromised our Constitutional rights? Let us consider a countdown, starting with the Tenth Amendment and moving to First.” more…

Unreliable evidence? Time to open up DNA databases

by Linda Geddes

“When a defendant’s DNA appears to match DNA found at a crime scene, the probability that this is an unfortunate coincidence can be central to whether the suspect is found guilty. The assumptions used to calculate the likelihood of such a fluke – the “random match probability” – are now being questioned by a group of 41 scientists and lawyers based in the US and the UK.” more…

Politics Gets in the Way of Obama’s Perceptiveness

by Ivan Eland

“President Barack Obama recently expressed a reluctance to send U.S. forces to Yemen and Somalia, two “failed states” where al-Qaeda is active. Obama seemed to realize that such a U.S. military presence might make the terrorism problem worse. If he understands this effect in these two nations, why doesn’t the same principle apply to the war in Afghanistan?” more…

Education

• All of the mises.org multimedia content can be accessed on iTunes U.
• Infra-guard is a public-private organization that allows for intelligence sharing between the FBI and the private sector.
• Download various army field manuals.

Regulars

• Comics
• The Bain Report – articles that affect you.
• Bill Bonner – The Fallacy of the Fallacy of Composition
• Financial Sense Editorials – Cheap Oil is Gone, and That’s Good News

Politics and Such

• Hugo Chavez devalued the Venezuela currency by 1/2 against the dollar. Here’s some lessons one might learn from that.
• The 100 most influential conservatives in the United States – according to the Daily Telegraph. Ron Paul is #41. Dick Cheney is #1. Glen Beck is #6. Blah blah blah.
• Maybe just maybe a Republican could win Ted Kennedy’s old Senate seat. Gridlock is your friend!
• Why does he *always* look so damn arrogant?
• Amerikans want to be panty scanned.
• Danny Glover blames Haitian earthquake on… wait for it … global warming. Or was that climate change Danny? Ha!
• Take a look at this graph and try to make a sound argument that government intervention hasn’t already made healthcare more expensive than it ought to be.
• Obama appointee would infiltrate “conspiracy” groups. So you might ask “With Friends like These who the F**k needs COINTELPRO?” Lyrics.
• Secure your checked bags from TSA thieves. Check a starter pistol. Heh.

Videos (it’s all music videos today)

• Ten Foot Pole – “Racer X” to a Bleach video. Nice…
• Given “Racer X” one must hear “Broken Bones“.
• Oh hell, while we’re at it why not another Ten Foot Pole song? Final Hours. Here’s the lyrics
• Oh, you say you want to hear “Muffled” as well. It’s the song that comes after Final Hours on Rev. Okay here’s the lyrics.
• Or maybe none of that loud obnoxious stuff works for you, then how about some CCR?
• Or maybe some Anime Hip Hop. Battle Cry from Samurai Champloo.
• Or maybe if you’re a fan of Hellsing – The World Without Logos. Vampire Anime is fun.
• Okay, you’re sick of music videos. One last one. The Bleach intro song – Asterisk. Japanese lyrics sound cool, but who knows what they’re saying…

And now the numbers…

DOW Jones Industrials – 10,609.65 (-8.54/-0.08%)
S&P 500 – 1,136.03 (-8.95/-0.78%)
VIX – 17.91 (-0.22/-1.21%)
CSI 300 (China) – 3,482.738 (+2.608/0.07%)
BSE 500 (India) – 7,005.27 (+47.95/0.69%)
MICEX (Russia) – 1,452.67 (+82.66/6.03%)
BOVESPA (Brazil) – 68,978.297 (-1,284.406/-1.83%)
RICI – 3,228.89 (-140.15/-4.16%)
Gold/oz – 1,130.50 (-8.40/-0.74%)
Silver/oz – 18.427 (-0.043/-0.23%)
Copper/lb – 336.60 (-3.45/-1.01%)
Oil/bbl (Brent) – 77.11 (-4.26/-5.24%)
Wheat/bu (CBT) – 512.00 (-56.50/-9.94%)
Corn/bu – 371.50 (-51.50/-12.17%)
EUR-USD – 1.4387 (-0.0023/-0.16%)
USD-JPY – 90.77 (-1.886/-2.04%)
USD-BRL – 1.7723 (+0.0459/2.66%)
3 Month Treasury – 0.05 (+0.01/25.00%)
2 Year Treasury – 0.86 (-0.12/-12.24%)
10 Year Treasury – 3.67 (-0.16/-4.18%)
30 Year Treasury – 4.58 (-0.14/-2.97%)
U.S. Public Debt (official) – 12,258,545,028,915.20 (-22,300,252,602.40/-0.18%)
Baltic Dry Index (BDIY:IND) – 3,299.00 (+159.00/5.06%)

Lots o’ music today. I just got on a roll and before I knew it I had racked up over a 1/2 dozen music videos. Maybe someone will enjoy them. I did…

Whew! I’ve been busy. Just finished reading The Path of Daggers.  Finished Starving the Monkeys too. Of the 400 or so pages that encompassed that book only about 30 are worth reading if you already have read Atlas Shrugged, and understand real economics as laid out by Mises, Rothbard, or Hazlitt. He just talks around that. The basicness of the book is “be John Galt” with a sort of sinister twist.

As for The Wheel of Time, I am a big fan. The Path of Daggers is book #8. The first book is the Eye of the World. Each of these things is like 600+ pages though. Nonetheless you won’t want to put them down. The 12th book in the series was just released and two more are to come before it’s finished. Good stuff.

I’m figuring to read Isaac Asimov next. It’s been highly recommended by some good friends.

In any case that’s the future. For now it’s all linear algebra and statistics. That’s fun stuff too!

Meanwhile on the political front I still think the key is in electing the right people to the governments of the various states. And so there will be more on that later this spring and summer. I will be doing some polling for a number of elections in August/November in Michigan.

Breakfast tomorrow at Classic Cup Cafe on Jackson Road in Ann Arbor. Hope to see some of you there.

Have a great weekend!

The Bain Report

by R. Al Bain

IRS to Enforce Obama Healthcare Penalties

The IRS would become the main agency for determining who has an “acceptable” health insurance plan; for finding and punishing those who don’t have such a plan; for subsidizing individual health insurance costs through the issuance of a tax credits; and for enforcing the rules on those who attempt to opt out, abuse, or game the system.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told AIG executives to withhold key details about how they were spending taxpayer money.

AIG transferred more than $62 billion to a number of large domestic and foreign banks, including Goldman Sachs and Société Générale, paying those obligations at full value.

The Stimulus Myth

Many on the left are hailing the President’s $787 billion “stimulus” package as the key behind the budding economic turnaround. These same folks support the President’s proposal for a third stimulus spending package to give the economy a final boost into recovery. But they are missing one critical point: as Heritage Foundation economist Brian Riedl explains, “government spending does not stimulate economic growth.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promises $100 billion to foreign countries to promote “global management”

You see, while our corporate and Wall Street bailouts spent huge amounts of money we didn’t have – the next Washington scheme does that AND erodes our sovereignty at the same time.

December Chill: Employers Cut 85,000 Jobs

The nation’s effort to return to job growth has been a little like that Charlie Brown comic strip scene where he runs to kick the football . . . only to have Lucy pull it out of the way at the last moment. Well, it looks like Lucy swiped the football again. The U.S. Labor Department announced Friday that the economy lost 85,000 jobs in December, dashing expectations of a slight gain.

UPS cutting 1,800 jobs in US

About 1,100 employees will be offered a voluntary separation package as part of the work force reduction, which is meant to streamline the company’s U.S. small package segment. Other cuts will come through attrition and layoffs. The U.S. small package segment represents roughly 60 percent of UPS’ annual revenue. It handles shipments of up to 150 pounds by ground and air.

Congress Accidentally Gives South Dakota Back to Sioux

On Friday, in a late business wrap up, the US Congress gave back the state of South Dakota to the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Reports have surfaced that an obscure bill, which was suppose to cede a 100 acre parcel of land in South Dakota back to the Oglala Sioux, had a small typographic error in the official copy which, accidentally, ceded the entire state of South Dakota back to the Oglala Sioux. President Obama signed the measure into law without reading it late on Friday and on Saturday morning!

Downturn Forcing Private Small Business Companies into Cost Cutting, Layoffs

Small, privately held companies have done an admirable job keeping their businesses afloat during the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression, but now data suggests they are feeling pressure that could lead to more layoffs and more small business failures.
Downturn Forcing Private Companies into Cost Cutting, Layoffs – AOL Small Business

Young people eager to step into Civic Role, Political Leadership

Young leaders aren’t forgetting who they serve — local constituents who rely on them to attract new people and businesses and keep taxes low and services high.

Homeowners fall back into delinquency

Nearly 40 percent of homeowners who had their monthly payments cut by 20 percent or more last year were delinquent again within a year, according to a report Monday from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Liberal States are Bankrupt and Residents Are Leaving

If Socialism and Liberalism is so damn good then why are the biggest state failures and population decreases in liberal states?

Kwame Kilpatrick should pay much more

Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land said that she would need a complaint before investigating whether Kwame Kilpatrick misused nearly $1 million in campaign money.

Well, now she has one. A retired Wayne State University law professor said Wednesday he filed a complaint alleging Kilpatrick violated campaign-finance law by using his re-election fund to pay the criminal defense lawyers who defended him during the text message scandal. She didn’t need a complaint as to try and block the Andy Dillon recall by taking the case to court to try and stop it, she took that on all by herself! What’s with Republicans like Land and Cox who want to protect the Democrats for breaking the law?

Monroe County’s November jobless rate worsened in November

The county rate rose to 14.4 percent, up from 13.6 percent in October. About 10,900 people were without jobs, or one of every seven workers, according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.
County’s November jobless rate worsened – MonroeNews.com

GMAC Expects to Post $5 Billion Loss

The struggling finance company said Tuesday it expects to report a $5 billion loss for last year’s fourth quarter, raising GMAC’s total losses last year to $10 billion.

New York Fed to AIG: Can You Keep a Secret?

In 2008 the New York Federal Reserve Bank — then chaired by current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — urged American International Group (AIG) not to disclose to the public its Credit Default Swaps settlement payments to banks.

Rising Apartment Vacancy Rates Could Threaten Regional Banksters

Here comes the commercial real estate bubble! I thought Geithner and Bernanke said we were out of the recession? What about the credit card bubble and cash for clunker bubble yet to come?

Apartment vacancy rates soared to their highest level in 30 years in the fourth quarter of 2009. That means more apartment owners could have trouble paying their mortgages, which could lead to an even greater number of commercial defaults. U.S. bank examiners believe losses on commercial real estate loans pose the biggest risk to U.S. banks this year.

2 political visits planned for auto show

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is to meet chief executives of Detroit’s three automakers on Monday. Around the same time, Tea Party activists are planning a protest outside General Motors headquarters at the Renaissance Center. “We go to Detroit with our commitment to continue to preserve our manufacturing base,” Pelosi said in a statement. She was invited by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. Meanwhile, the anti-tax National Tax Day Tea Party has called on supporters from southeast Michigan to “make a peaceful yet clear statement against government takeover of America,” namely the U.S. government’s 61% stake in GM.

More Pain at the Pump: Gas Prices High and Going Higher

American consumers can’t catch a break. Jobs are hard to find and wages are stagnant for those who are still working. And now higher gasoline prices threaten to take the few pennies that are still rolling around at the bottom of the piggy bank.

Gas Prices Are High and Likely Going Higher in Spring and Summer 2010 – DailyFinance

Jumbo Mortgage Delinquencies Soar as High-End Home Inventory Builds

Delinquencies on jumbo mortgages nearly tripled to 9.2% in December 2009 compared to the 3.2% rate December 2008 as the inventory of expensive homes continued to rise, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise to the banks who allowed option adjustable-rate mortgages and interest-only mortgages to be concentrated in the high-cost housing market.

Limited Drug Competition Is a Prescription for Extreme Price Increases

From 2000 to 2008, pharmaceutical companies raised prices for 321 different brand-name drugs by huge amounts — from 100% to more than 2,000%, according to a new GAO report. Although the 416 products that rose so rapidly represent just 0.5% of all brand-name drugs, that group includes some big sellers.

Week in review

Quote of the week

“Capitalism properly understood cannot operate in an environment where property ownership is not explicit. A fractional-reserve, debt-based money system guarantees delusional booms born of multiplying claims on the same asset and, if the boom lasts long enough, industry segment collapses when the process of sorting out those claims inevitably occurs. Critics of capitalism thus falsely attribute to it problems that actually arise from crucial anti-capitalistic policies.” – David Calderwood

It’s Not Our Fault

by Peter Schiff

“It seems that the primary qualification needed by any chairman of the Federal Reserve is the ability to never admit error, no matter how damning the evidence. During his tenure on the job, Alan Greenspan set the standard for implausible deniability. But in a speech last weekend in Atlanta, current chairman Ben Bernanke did the Maestro one better. In a tortured academic dissertation, Bernanke explicitly denied any Fed culpability for inflating the housing bubble and for the financial crisis that began when it burst. Despite his best efforts, no one seemed particularly convinced. By taking such an absurd stand, he has destroyed any credibility he may have had left.” more… [Peter Schiff is running for the US Senate in Connecticut.]

Neither Left Nor Right: Of Liberty And Libertarians

by Doug Carkuff

“The central libertarian principle is the principle of nonaggression. Taken to its logical conclusions it pretty much covers everything that is the cause of so much consternation in the life of our society. You would think that no one could possibly have a problem with this principle, but many people do. In order for the nonaggression principle to mean anything you have to believe you own yourself and, by extension, that you own the fruits of your endeavors. For any statist/collectivist self-ownership is conditional. In other words, you only own yourself to the extent society says you own yourself which is really the same as saying you don’t own yourself at all. You can make the decisions about your life that society/the state says you can make. Ultimately and inescapably, in the statist’s view, society/the state owns everything and anything you own, including yourself — you only own conditionally.” more…

On health-care bill, Democratic senators are in states of denial

by Dana Milbank

“As Senate Democrats finally complete their health-care legislation, those combing through the bill have uncovered many backroom deals that were made to buy, er, secure the 60 votes needed to ‘invoke cloture’ — the legislative term for cutting off debate and holding a final vote.” more…

I live in a van down by Duke University

by Ken Ilgunas

“For some, van-dwelling may conjure images of pop-culture losers forced into desperate measures during troubled times: losers like Uncle Rico from “Napoleon Dynamite,” or “Saturday Night Live’s” Chris Farley who’d famously exclaim, “I live in a van down by the river!” before crashing through a coffee table, or perhaps the once ubiquitous inhabitants of multicolored VW buses, welcoming strangers with complimentary coke lines and invitations to writhing, hairy, back-seat orgies.

“In my van there were no orgies or coke lines, no overweight motivational speakers. To me, the van was what Kon-Tiki was to Heyerdahl, what the GMC van was to the A-Team, what Walden was to Thoreau. It was an adventure.” more…

Education

• Learn about time preference.

Regulars

• Comics
• The Bain Report – articles that affect you.
• Bill Bonner – 100 Years of Mismanagement
• Financial Sense Editorials – Jeff Clark – The Biggest Financial Deception of the Decade
• One failed bank this week – Horizon Bank of Bellingham, WA. It’s the first one of the year.

Politics

• The Ohio Republic legislative agenda.
• Historic footage of Obama repeatedly promising that “healthcare debate” will occur on “CSPAN” not in secret. (video 2:21)
• 45% say that a selection of 435 random individuals from the phone book would do better than the current Congress.
• An Illinois prison will be sold to Feds to replace Guantanamo.

And now the numbers…

DOW Jones Industrials – 10,618.19 (+190.14/1.82%)
S&P 500 – 1,144.98 (+29.88/2.68%)
VIX – 18.13 (-3.55/-16.37%)
CSI 300 (China) – 3,480.13 (-95.554/-2.67%)
BSE 500 (India) – 6,957.32 (+115.07/1.68%)
MICEX (Russia) – 1,370.01 (UNCHG)
BOVESPA (Brazil) – 70,262.703 (+1,674.297/2.44%)
RICI – 3,369.04 (+95.04/2.90%)
Gold/oz – 1,138.90 (+42.70/3.90%)
Silver/oz – 18.47 (+1.625/9.65%)
Copper/lb – 340.05 (+5.40/1.61%)
Oil/bbl (Brent) – 81.37 (+3.44/4.41%)
Wheat/bu (CBT) – 568.50 (+27.00/4.99%)
Corn/bu – 423.00 (+8.50/2.05%)
EUR-USD – 1.441 (+0.0086/0.60%)
USD-JPY – 92.656 (-0.379/-0.41%)
USD-BRL – 1.7264 (-0.0181/-1.04%)
3 Month Treasury – 0.04 (-0.02/-33.33%)
2 Year Treasury – 0.98 (-0.16/-14.04%)
10 Year Treasury – 3.83 (UNCHG)
30 Year Treasury – 4.72 (+0.09/1.94%)
U.S. Public Debt (official) – 12,280,845,281,517.60 (+135,952,264,947.10/1.12%)
Baltic Dry Index (BDIY:IND) – 3,140.00 (+135.00/4.49%)

Not much to say today. I’ve been hiding from the news a bit, which is due to my reading Starving the Monkeys. I may do a review after I finish. We’ll see.

Okay, that’s it. Back to reading. Have a great weekend!