St. Obama and the Debt Dragon
“Reckless Fiscal Policies”
Why did Obama only enumerate George W. Bush’s big spending as responsible for the out-of-control $14 trillion-plus debt, while not mentioning his own contribution of $5 trillion? Why is there a debt limit standoff now, rather than, say, in 2009 or 2010? Why did this latest $1.6 trillion Obama budget prompt the current crisis? Why did not Obama earlier start debt limit talks the moment that his own hand-picked Simpson-Bowles commission presented their findings? Why did Obama just recently submit, and have rejected, a budget that would have scheduled even larger deficits of the sort he is now warning against (“Armageddon”)?
Why is voting against the debt limit reckless now, but in 2006 Obama lectured us thusly:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.”
(He then failed even to vote on the issue in 2007 and 2008 when the limit was raised again. So Obama has an even weaker case than the weak case of the congressional Republicans who approved the Bush deficits, given that if Obama was right at the time to vote “no,” then $6 trillion later, with a ruined, rather than robust, economy, he could now be really right to vote again “no,” when he has the political power not to raise the debt ceiling.)
Why is Obama talking of new tax increases when he ruled that out in December 2010: taxes then bad, now seven months later good? Why does the president claim 80% of the people want taxes when polls prove no such thing?
Failure, Failure Everywhere
In 2009, newly arrived Obama was convinced of redistributive Keynesian postmodern economics, a sort of updated fable that borrowed money would spawn more money, or at least would not have to be paid back, or could be excused along the lines: “If a Republican Bush borrowed nearly $5 trillion in eight years, then, dammit, why cannot a liberal Democrat be allowed to borrow more than $5 trillion in three?” And if Reagan gave us “starve the beast” (cutting taxes would cut revenue that would force smaller government), Obama could console himself with “gorge the beast” (growing government in extraordinary fashion would force higher taxes that in turn would redistribute income from those who “didn’t need it” to those who work for or receive from the government and who most certainly did need it).
The architects of his economic policies — Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, Larry Summers — did not even last three years. All now are either back in tenured academia, making millions in the revolving door that Obama once blasted, or writing op-eds why following their former advice is leading to insolvency, or all three combined. None are making the argument any more that we need more of their stimuli or ObamaCare will save us billions and create “400,000 new jobs.”
Their borrowing did not stop unemployment from plateauing at 9.1% or prevent the housing market from getting worse, or growth from stalling, or gas from soaring, or the beginnings of a new inflation. In the meantime, the model of Obamism (e.g., Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Ireland) in Europe of high taxes, redistributive government, astronomical debt, and unsustainable pensions has crashed. So Obamism did not work, and now is the politically opportune time, before the 2012 election, to follow the famed Obama reinvention stratagem: Cite straw men and extremists on both sides, and put St. Obama plop in the middle as the sober, great dragon slayer, who blames both his contemporaries and his predecessor. Hard to do, I know, when you wasted $5 trillion, but do it nonetheless he has. In the word of Obama, wasted borrowed money is “stimulus,” not so shovel ready jobs are “investments,” and hiking taxes on someone else is “revenue enhancement.”
Obama is America’s first truly poisonous naional politician.
Yes, but, his cough medicine is 90 percent alcohol and I’m flyin’ high!
“Obama is America’s first truly poisonous national politician.”
He is poisonous for sure but I would say Wilson and FDR were just as bad, but in different ways.
The current snake is doing it on purpose, Wilson seemed evil but thought it was for the better of the people in his twisted mind (basically he thought everyone was dumb except him), FDR just liked the power, and figured he was the only one smart enough to “help” the less fortunate. The liberal left still love FDR and preach him as the savior that lead the “people” out of the great depression. At some point the real story needs to be told to the school children.
Obama will go down in history as at least as bad as these two, if not worse. If he gets reelected what he has done so far is a drop in a bucket compared to term 2. Hang on cause no matter what this ride ain’t going to be fun.
Who are you going to believe? President Obama or your own lyin’ eyes?
Consider what I think is a key difference between Obama and Roosevelt. While Roosevelt certainly intruded heavily in the private sector and was hostile to big business, he was motivated by the belief that government could do a better job of generating economic growth than the private sector in many areas (e.g., electrification). Obama and the agents he has brought in are literally anti-growth; they believe that America has been profligate in its lifestyle; that it needs to be cut back; and that government is the means for doing this. Thus, there is no thought or discussion about how to rekindle growth; it is not even in the dialogue. Another difference: New Dealers, though misguided in many of their experiments, really did care about the poor who were suffering mightily in the Great Depression. There is no evidence that Obama cares about the poor — or indeed anyone . Even Cornel West http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/magazine/talk-cornel-west.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss has picked up on this in the NYT and has denounced Obama for this. I don’t agree with Wests’ politics but he knows a phony when he sees one.
Someone on the Republican side needs to lay it on the line. Obama just doesn’t care.
Far more poisonous than Obama were:
1) Lincoln (murderer of more Americans than any president in history. Creator of income tax. Creator of “government projects” currently known as pork-barrel projects, suspended elements of the Constitution not to his liking – akin to Bush II and Obama.
2) Wilson. Federal Reserve. 19th Amendment (which will ultimately destroy America. Women are more risk-averse than men, tend to vote for social welfare, and don’t seem to understand that the bill must eventually be paid.)
3) F.D.R. A socialist and anti-Constitutionalist.
4) Johnson. Sucked up to women voters with his “Great Society” which has racked up over $12 trillion in debt, undermined America’s work ethic and implemented the socialist agenda of Wilson and FDR.
“…Why is voting against the debt limit reckless now?”
Because Obama is a crook bent only on crippling America, while stealing as much as he can for himself and his corrupt cronies in the process. He is in fact the worst of everything he claims to oppose. He is consuming himself with self-loathing. Problem is he’s taking the rest of us down with him. But he can’t stop himself now, his puppet-masters won’t let him.
Team Obama is trying hard not to show it, but they have entered desperate straights now. Now the great unravelling begins for them, and they know it. This is where we fight. No mercy!
…. He is consuming himself with self-loathing ….
Most Pathological Narcissists Project their morbid self loathing on to a target of choice. Adolf Hitler began with the Jews, Slavs and Catholics. The relatively way more ambitious Obama loathes and detests our beloved fraternal republic – AKA, We, The People — and every other Judeo-Christian/Western/Human Civilized Man.
“Why did Obama only enumerate George W. Bush’s big spending as responsible for the out-of-control $14 trillion-plus debt, while not mentioning his own contribution of $5 trillion?”
Because it is a good political move, and points out the Republicans are the begetters of Obama’s policies. Or, I should say, the Repubs. provided phony policy reasons for debt and tax “cuts.” I wish Obama would say, “Don’t worry, we’ll grow out of the deficit” and bury the Republican idiots in their lies, by outlying them. The mock indignation of phony conservatives over Obama’s deficits is very shallow. Why did a smart guy like Hanson fall for the tax cuts without spending cuts? The repub. politicians have to pretend to have an ideology for their campaign contribution kickbacks, what is Hanson’s reason?
“Why did a smart guy like Hanson fall for the tax cuts without spending cuts?”
The more pertinent question is why do you spread such ignorance and falsehood? #1, Bush’s tax cuts caused significant increases in federal tax revenues (in absolute dollars) as well as an increase in the percentage of total federal taxes paid by the highest-earning Americans. The increase in revenues allowed Bush to pay down the federal deficit. So your demonizing tax cuts as being revenue-killing is RUBBISH. #2, countless conservatives (including VDH), while supportive of the Bush tax cuts, repeatedly criticized him for his spending. So your implication that VDH and other conservatives are hypocrites on spending issues is baseless.
P
The post before this is mine. Sorry about accidentally posting anonymously.
As I said, faith based economics is a danger. Bush’s tax cuts did not pay for themselves one dime. The increase in revenue is a joke, never paid for principal or interest, and there is no reason to believe it was not due to normal cycles–how do you know we would not have done even better fiscally? Hockey-stick logic do nothing. Repeat, Bush never repaid one dime he borrowed. Is that difficult to understand? Debt holders do not care how the debt is incurred. Debt is debt. There is no good “republican” debt because of a mystical belief system and “increased tax revenues” due to something. China and Saudi and the oil Arabs do not care. Debt is debt. Debt is bad. Obama is 5xBush.
Bush did not repay one dime he borrowed.
BTW, Bush’s/Democrat’s housing bubble bringing in more capital gains was only a temporary blip.
China don’t care. Saudi don’t care. Germany don’t care. Not one dime of BushDebt has been repaid.
Who’s doing well? Germany, Sweden, Canada. How our their deficits?
It’s too bad that ObamaFans like “JN” here are always able to weasel out of defending Obama by mentioning Bush’s record (a classic case of the “tu quoque” fallacy).
They can then count on Republicans reflexively leaping to Bush’s defense, talking about what Bush did or didn’t do. And ObamaFans will succeed in having changed the subject from Obama (who can’t defend his own track record to an upset public) to Bush (who left office 2 1/2 years ago).
Don’t fall for this ploy anymore. When some liberal brings up Bush, my response is: “Yep, Bush was no fiscal conservative. He rammed through Medicare Part D without paying for it. But Obama didn’t have to go Bush one better by ramming through such disasters as nationalizing General Motors. That was his choice.”
And thus I have pivoted the discussion right back to Obama, where it belongs.
It’s not our job to defend Bush yet one more time. It’s our job to get Obama out of the White House.
“It’s too bad that ObamaFans like “JN” here are always able to weasel out of defending Obama”
I’m an Obama fan? Wow, that’s some good stuff you’re drinking, pass the bottle please!!
Tax cuts without spending cuts do not work. 1. The fact that tax cuts actually raise revenue never enters the mindset of the general public due to the liberal media and education establishments. 2. When the Liberals get back in power, they will increase spending even more. 3. Government spending, not under-taxation nor low revenues, is why the debt is too high. 4. When a family reaches its debt limit, it should decrease discretionary spending, not go robbing the neighbors. In the case of our government non-discretionary spending would include Constitutional obligations, such as the military and border protection and obligations involving an exchange of property, such as Indian treaties and Social Security. 5. Bush tax cuts with massive spending increases, AKA “Compassionate Conservatism,” led to Republicans being blamed equally with Democrats for high debt.
Are you arguing that because George Bush spent money he didn’t have and didn’t sink the country, that Obama should spend more than twice as much money he doesn’t have and therefore won’t sink the country. This argument fails to address the issue that you can’t create wealth by printing money to spend no matter who spends it. All it does is make all money represent less wealth. But it sure will devalue the dollar and cause higher prices for everything. Put in a better light, if Somalia could feed its people by printing more money, they would have damn sure done it, don’t you think? This printing money is just an insidious regressive tax on our poor, eh?
I’m not so much defending Bush, as defending tax cuts…defending them against the nonsense of fools like JN.
Kennedy cut taxes. Revenues increased.
Reagan cut taxes. Revenues increased.
Bush II cut taxes. Revenues increased.
A pattern is seen. Idiots like JN refuse to see it. So it goes.
At least Bush worked hard at the job, unlike the current president who thinks that reading speeches off teleprompters (in between rounds of golf) is all that needs to be done.
Bush’s tax cuts did not pay for themselves one dime. The increase in revenue is a joke,
Huh?
Are you disputing federal revenues increased after the Bush tax cuts?
Your “did not pay for themselves” meme went out the window with the additional federal spending.
What puppet masters do you refer to, Gylippus? I hope that yours was not a populist comment, for VDH’s excellent summary was not. Hanson zeroed in on policy, not on behind-the-scenes villains. I wrote about the rationale of social democracy here: http://clarespark.com/2011/07/16/disraelis-contribution-to-social-democracy/.
Sometimes, the villain is real. Sometimes, so is the hero.
Sunday 7/17/11
Just got finished watching Fox New Sunday. It’s been several months since I watch that show, but like comparing a evolving TV sit-com from season 1 to 3, it’s apparent to mine eyes and ears that the Fox discussion program (panel and all) has degraded into another “corner the conservative guest on the hot seat with repeatedly pressing questions over and over while tossing the chewy Tootsie Pops to the designated lefty.”
I don’t know, maybe it was being able to judge what I saw today and the last two Sundays with what I remember the show to be like. Honestly, kids, I wasn’t sure if I was watching Meet the Liberal Press or listening to great-grandpa Schieffer drooling about how wonderful Hope and Change has worked out. (It hasn’t, gramps. Now, whip your chin.) At the end of today’s FNS, I felt liked I’d watched Chris Wallace morph into “Daddy Mike”. Even their panel discussions are a little snarkier from the lefties with Juanito Williams having now learned the art of making snarky faces when “the other side” is trying to make a point. I guess Guano Juano forgot who saved his b-side when the socialist goon squad at NPR made him the company port-o-potty earlier this year.
I guess King Roger gave him a no-cut, no trade contract. But that’s just a guess.
Then again, nothing like what I saw today goes on their Fair and Balanced air unless “the word” filtered down from Mt. St. Ailes. I guess in the end, it’s all about pazzazz, snappy show biz and getting those White House party invites reinstated to the A list
The good news is, now I have THREE Sunday news shows to avoid like a case of cooties. But, HEY, don’t think I’m just going to sit around and veg-out. Noooo, not me. I’ll be busy re-stringing my fly swatter. It’s a lot more stimulating. And without the icky smell.
I agree with Dave about Fox News Sunday. Never once, on FNC have I heard a straight-out contrast between supply side economics and neo-Keynesian economics with empirical facts to favor one theory over another. Their idea of fair and balanced does not diverge from the CNN model: several talking heads, reiterating their Party’s talking points, and getting mad or perhaps smiling condescendingly at the opposition. All this is because they are not classical liberals but moderates. “We report, you decide” is a big joke. You have to have facts and figures to make any kind of determination regarding one policy or another.
I wish this problem was which is the better economic theory. Unfortunately, the problem is the ultimate track record of dismal failure of the socialist political and social model that is presently being foisted upon our nation. If you like that model, fine. But don’t defend an economic theory that has been completely bastardized to suit the socialists ends. We can always argue the merits of the various economic theories, but we don’t have the luxury of fussing with socialists anymore.
You’re right.
I’m not interested in “fair and balanced” – I want the whole truth and nothing but. It’s their job to do some digging, to uncover it, and to provide it, and they are failing in that task.
There is no middle ground between good and evil. There is no compromise between truth and lies. We don’t need to hear “both sides of the story” if one side is provably wrong or is deliberately lying.
The Devil has enough spokesmen already, and spokeswomen too!
I quit watching when he asked M. Bachmann “Are you a flake?” That was it for me, no more FNS.
Welcome to the party of realists Dave. Many have joined the ranks recently. Some have finally come to recognize that Obama is both ignorant and stupid but still able to read the words of hired guns of George Soros while they write and post scripts to his teleprompter. And now a few such as yourself are starting to realize that the Fox News Channel with their big time snake oil salesmen like O’reilly, Juan Williams and several others, are really shills for the left when push comes to shove on important issues facing the nation.
The only constructive thing they have offered for years, is bringing attention to some stories, to improve their ratings, that otherwise would never see the light of day. It’s always about the money with them. Fair and balanced is baloney for dummies.
If The Chris Wallace badgering of Herman Cain this morning about armageddon if the debt ceiling isn’t raised doesn’t get ones attention, what in the name of God will? I wonder if Chris might have peed down his leg while trying to convince everyone listening that there is no alternative to giving Obama the key to the federal treasury regarding the debt ceiling.
To Juan: If Obama wants wants $3 in spending cuts for each $1 in revenue increases, why does the debt ceiling need to be raised at all? $3 plus $1 equal $4. That in and of itself should allow the debt ceiling to be lowered to $10.3 trillion rather than raising it to nearly $17 trillion.
And here’s more real world stuff. Obama probably cannot be ousted in 2012. While conservative and moderate potential voters continue their fight by shooting each other in the foot while wrangling over a candidate in 2012 after figuratively assassinating Mitt Romney, Obama, NBC, General Electric and Donald Trump join forces. Big money and the promised threat of Trump running third party after a $130 million payoff for renewing his nonsensical You’re Fired program could do the trick.
Look at the constituancy groups, do the math and draw your own conclusion. Looks like six more years unless the man simply declares himself dictator for life and refuses to ever go away. In the meantime, where are calls for impeaching The One who refuses to stop his campaign to destroy America? Where are the Patriots, the defenders of the constitution?
I wish I knew.
It seems I don’t read enough to get information that would give me a clear picture of this debt of America. We get statistics about the trillions of dollars added within just 2 short years to a debt that’s been around for years. A debt that for many was already considered unsustainable for the American Republic to manage or pay back within numbers of lifetimes.
But what are we talking about? The numbers of dollars borrowed? Borrowed from where, from whom, and with what costs. I like numbers I can understand and detailed to what they apply. How many actual dollars is American indebted to pay back. What is the interest on those dollars and the limits and terms on those limits. What are the numbers borrowed with the amounts in interest over the terms of the interest. Think mortgages.
Who’s lending those dollars to the American government. What do they want in return, certainly not only dollars that decrease in value every single day or at the whims of treasury officials with their printing presses.
So what is this debt? what exactly is this debt doing to America? Does anybody know? Do enough people care? Enough to do something to stop it if they can? And as this sucker game has been institutionalised as fundamental to the American culture for the past half century is there anything that can be done short of total destruction, of the government and/or the American people?
Americans with heads in the sand elected a Messiah. HOPING? he and his troops, his army, would CHANGE their lives. He is doing exactly that with blitzkrieg tactics. Hastening the destruction of the freedoms Americans took for granted and exemplified as the most successful way to live a life for the entire world. Lives original Americans fought and died for with blood and treasury to bequeath to their ungrateful, uninterested progeny. Progeny who threw them all away to make nice, to cater to destructive envious liars and frauds with their siren song, their flim flam of a free lunch and eternal adolescence. To this has the debt of America brought us. Dare we call it treason?
VDH: You and other conservative bloggers need to continually remind us all that we’re seeing a great push, an effort, to create the conditions described by Cloward Piven and others like them. Also, it seems that Obama is also following the dictates of Alinsky in using our rules to bring down Conservative America, turning it into his concept of a Socialist haven, ruled by elites such as himself.
No matter what Obama says publicly now, his actions show that his plans reasonably well documented in the past are reaping some results now. He said that he would necessarily set the stage for energy companies to be bankrupted. He said he wanted to redistribute the wealth of the nation. He said that he’d raise taxes on the wealthiest amongst us. He said that his healthcare plan would be necessary to achieve his goals for the USA! But, he’s also saying now whatever he feels is needed to calm the troubled waters roiling around us all yet it’s past words that need to be listened since now his words have no apparent basis. Now, his words are simply “just words!”
So, professor, thanks for doing what you’ve been doing and continue to say it again and again. Also, pray that the GOP nominate a person who will stand up for America Exceptionalism, and thus defeat the Socialist Party’s candidate.
Doug we allso want a PRESIDENT who will impanel a grand jury and a special prossecutor to investigate and prossecute this intire regime for the CRIMES they have commited against the people of this country,
Yes it is crimes indeed, and he is not only a liar but a thief as well usually liars are thief’s but not always but either action by one of these people can result in injury legally or civilly after the act, and this guy lies all the time, he needs to be replaced either by impeachment (low probability) or the ballot (higher probability) but if he win a fishy election by coup for he is unworthy of the position and a danger to the country!
…. So, Professor, thanks for doing what you’ve been doing and continue to say it again and again. Also, pray that the GOP nominate a person who will stand up for America Exceptionalism — and thus defeat the Socialist Party’s candidate ….
President and Armed-Forces Commander-In-Chief-Elect Sarah Louise Ronald Wilson Reagan Heath Palin will do the trick!
“Also, it seems that Obama is also following the dictates of Alinsky”
Alinsky was a crank Keynesian? No, I don’t think so. There is nothing in “Socialism” that dictates favor towards deficits. That is a Republican-Libertarian invention. For the “supply side” only, nudge nudge.
Obama’s spending model is George W. Bush. He is outbushing Bush and the tax “cut” big-deficit Republicans. Republicans have no legitimacy until they denounce Bush and the tax cuts without spending cuts delusion built up to be a redemptive religion almost. Faith based economics is failure.
Please refer to my previous reply to you. Sheesh.
When you argue with an idiot, he’s doing the same thing!
“Why did Obama only enumerate George W. Bush’s big spending as responsible for the out-of-control $14 trillion-plus debt, while not mentioning his own contribution of $5 trillion?”
My question to you, Mr. Hanson is Why didn’t Georgie and his bright bureaucrats try to control our fast growing National Debt?
History shows that Mr. Bush didn’t care about being a President. He considered it an extension to his privileged life of an oil man’s son, owner of a baseball team obtained with easy money, easily elected Governor of a State full of rich Republicans and a VP who really ran the country. Like it or not, he sank the Country into a Depression (some say Recession).
It is also obvious that enough people hate the idea of a Black President and are trying every trick in the bag to embarrass him. They are so blinded that they don’t know it will backfire politically and financially on them!
Fortunately, there is a large Silent Majority who knows who they are and are already thinking of ways to expose their inner thoughts.
vivo plays race card. I guess that makes him/it a “Racer”
Obama sucks,it matters little what color he claims.
but keep playing that card,it’s the only one in your deck.
“It is also obvious that enough people hate the idea of a Black President”
Actually he had a good card in his post, the truth, until he played the race card. He is not wise, he is trying to figure out how the Bush believers in magical tax cuts without spending cuts could criticize Obama believers in this regard? His answer, racism. His problem, not understanding hypocrisy. He probably also cannot understand why the ‘tax cuts without spending cuts will pay for themselves’ people actually really believed that, and were not just class warrior phonies. That’s the problem between the Bush people and Obama people, each side cannot believe the other actually believes their own delusional lies.
Our two-party system, in which the “out” party defines itself by opposition to the “in” party, makes hypocrisy necessary.
If you don’t like the incumbent party’s fiscal policies, you have only one other choice–the challenger party’s fiscal policies.
If you’re afraid the incumbent party is spending too much, your only choice is to vote for the challenger party and hope that if they win, they’ll be more fiscally responsible. Usually they’re not
So if the incumbent party is spending big bucks on some programs, the challenger party will criticize that, implying they’re more fiscally responsible. And then when the challenger party wins an election (as they will eventually), the roles are reversed, with the former incumbent party now claiming they’ll be more fiscally responsible.
Same thing for foreign policy. Think Bush was being reckless by bombing Iraq? Then vote for the Dems who are criticizing that “reckless war policy.” Think Obama is being reckless by bombing Libya? Then vote for the GOP who are criticizing that “reckless war policy.”
Why so wordy vivo.
Just say it.
Come on, I know you want to…
Racists!
Neocons.
It is all Bush’s fault!
But Boooosh!!! eleventy!!!111!
You are so stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
vivo you sound just like the average run of the mill STUPID IDIOTIC LIBERAL,
vivo you are just like so many other IDIOTIC STUPID LIBERALS,
You say, “Fortunately, there is a large Silent Majority who knows who they are and are already thinking of ways to expose their inner thoughts.” While you are correct in this, I’m completely certain that you don’t recognize just who that large silent majority is. It’s us, the people in the tea party movement, and we’re not so silent anymore. Your and your cronies’ days are numbered.
Puhhh-leeze. Bush is history. Obama has a visible record and it’s not a pretty sight.
And stop saying that if we disagree with Obama we’re racist and if we agree with him we’re not.
It’s awfully dumb.
“It is also obvious that enough people hate the idea of a Black President and are trying every trick in the bag to embarrass him.”
If your ‘Black President’ (who is no more black than he is white) had any morals, his own stupidity and actions would be embarrassing enough to cause him to admit he has no clue how to do his job and step down. But since he’s an ‘affirmative action’ economic/social/political ladder climber, he’s never gotten past ‘you white bastards owe me this and I’m going to get all I can’.
He and his wife have spent more on chefs, assistants, expensive meals, vacations, fund raising junkets, and headline grabbing in three years than most American family’s lifelong earnings. How is he NOT promoting the stereotypical image (that far more people have than will actually admit) of his black half?
“It is also obvious that enough people hate the idea of a Black President and are trying every trick in the bag to embarrass him.”
This may be true of some out there, but if this were a phenomenon on a scale that you imply, Obama would have never won the election in 2008.
As for the notion that ours has become a post-racial nation, Obama’s victory pointed to the fact that great strides have been made in that direction; however, Obama’s horrid policies & petulant persona have served to undermine whatever progress that had been made towards the stellar goal of a colorblind society. A crying shame.
Wow. A Bush-Derangement-Syndrome-suffering race-card-sharp!
Vivo’s back! Cool. I can use a good laugh. Bring on the clowns…..
Your hero is embarrassing himself, the bitter clingers are merely pointing it out. Sorry that you don’t like it much.
Truth hurts, and your Messiah-Lite simply isn’t used to being held up to the same standard as the rest of mere mankind. He’s wearing a suit, but his attitude wears sagging pants.
I bet he quits.
Well, all you guys did was PROVE my points!
And you can’t see the reflection in the mirror . . .
I have come to occasionally wonder if I am, as charged, racist, given that I am VERY down on Obama. But after examining my feelings carefully and fully, I realize that I rather admire Obama’s black side. He is, after all, educated, articulate, clean, etc. (as per then-Senator Biden) — everything I would like to see in ALL American blacks. It’s his white European Socialist side that I so loathe — along with his liberal anti-American mindset, a al William Ayers — and the destructive policies that side of him is pursuing.
That you, vivo, think of the man who is only 1/2 black as “black” harkens back to the days of “‘one drop of Negro blood’ defines the man as a Negro [or nowadays, black].” Turns out YOU are the racist! And obviously suffering a bit from “white guilt.”
of course the troll is racist. most progressives / liberal / democrats /marxists are. nothing new in that.
they are also morally challenged and envious of others. it is what drives them …and hate.
Let’s hear it for the same old troll. Where have you been, vivo? I didn’t think you would return after the shellacking your silent majority took in 2010. But, where else could you go to start chanting about the hatred of the assumed race of our half-white President.
Vivo,
I have the name of some psychiatrists that,I am sure, can help you.
…wtf vivo (se habla castellano?) is still alive. I thought he suffocated burrowing up obama’s as$.
vivo, I know you will call me racist; but, name me one country in the world, with a black leader, that is a successful country. That means a country that is a democracy with a healthy economy.
even counting all the countries in the world the answer is the same.
Most of us conservatives utterly despise Nancy Pelosi and everything she stands for.
Is she black too?
hahahhahahahaha …as black as Harry Ried !
Yes, she has a black heart. :lol:
vivo, I’ve missed ya, you crazy funny F*CKer!
You’re right, I’m a racist because I can’t stand 0bammy’s white hobag naked ass picture showin’ Commie loving skankitude and the scum she associated with.
‘datz ‘ight! I HATE WHITEY!
Whoa, Vivo touches a nerve. Certainly there are racists who hate Obama because he is black. Big deal. Everyone knows that. There are haters of all varieties.
As to his point about deficits, Bill Clinton was the one who reversed the Reagan induced debt explosion. Don’t we all wish Al Gore’s “lock box” had been implemented? You can’t deny the fact George W. Bush once again lead us down the path of exploding deficits. VDH makes excellent points about Obama’s terrible economic strategy and his failure to address these issues in a timely and substantive manner.
Commenters are long on vicious ad hominem attacks, what about VDH’s suggestions? How about a sensible Energy Policy for starters? Why doesn’t T Boone run for president?
Every democrat party senator thought increasing the “debt ceiling” was a no-no in 2006, and voted that way against increasing it in 2006.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00054
Remember when Bill Clinton was first elected, riding in on Bush I’s “terrible recession”? And the new president tried to pass a $19 Billion stimulus, which the Democrat-controlled congress declined to do, as it was toooo expensive? As I recall, we were promised black riots in the street if the stimulus didn’t pass. As I also recall, by the end of Clinton’s first year, we were looking at “Bush’s recession” in the rearview mirror. (Two years later, and after the failed HillaryCare bid, both Houses of Congress became Republican-controlled, and the economy actually began to soar! Sadly, Barack is no Bill Clinton.)
Is it possible that Obama’s near-trillion-dollar stimulus, which failed to stimulate but DID make a few people (mostly union bosses) rich, was an error? Or was it malicious?
“Reflect for a moment on Grey’s Law: ‘Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice’ and the law’s variously attributed corollary, ‘Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.’”*
Be charitable. Allow for the possibility that President Obama is merely advancedly incompetent.
Also be reminded that many government threats (“riots in the streets”?? “Porkulus is the only thing that can save us; without it unemployment might go as high as 8%!!”??) are just so much doo-doo. Perhaps failing to raise the debt ceiling does NOT actually mean the end of life as we know it? Or apocalypse? Or worldwide economic collapse? Just sayin’….
.
*The American Thinker, “Are Conservatives Being Fair to Barack Obama?” by Jerry Shenk, July 13, 2011
Including this former Senator, who said:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies….
“And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on….
“I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”
– Senator Barack Obama, March 2006
Including this former Senator, who said:
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies….
“And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on….
“I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”
– Senator Barack Obama, March 2006
…including senator 0bama. why has he changed his tune this time around?
This is my guess Mr/Ms Gaffe Prices:
Last month you earned $1000.
Your expenses were rent $400, food $300, insurance $200, gas $100, others $300.
This month rent was $350, food $400, insurance $300, gas $200, others $ 500.
What do you do?
(Notice you were already in the hole . . . )
Reduce spending.
Oh wait, you are an Obama supporter….borrow more.
Just print more money.
Tax those rich basterds.
Get free money from China.
1. Find a cheaper house, cut back on food and cut “others”.
2. Try and make more money.
Apparently your solution is to get a bigger credit card.
A free country really does get the governance it seeks doesn’t it?
Become a single mother.
Zing!
We have a winner!
Very simple.
Rent is $400? Move to a cheaper place, or get a roommate or two.
Food is $300? Stop eating out. Learn to cook at home. Buy in bulk.
Insurance is $200? Sell the car. Public transportation. I have done this myself. I live near San Francisco and I subscribe to City Car Share ($10/month plus charges when using the car).
gas is $200? See previous paragraph.
others is $300? Make use of public library or of the local state college facilities.
vivo, you do not sound bright.
Believe it or not, it’s possible to be fat on $20 a week, even in the US. I’ve done it. Heck I’ve done the sub 1k per month routine, with a $550 rent and no roommates, and I kept the car.
Here’s a hit: wash the lentils before you boil them, cause if you don’t, you’re eating them anyways.
Correct. vivo is not bright. If vivo was bright he would not be a shill for a communist like Obama. But, vivo put his faith in a political party a long time ago. If that party told him there was cheese on the moon and the evil enemies of the poor were hiding it there, he would be an astronaut. vivo has not learned that there is only so much cheese you can steal before all the cheese, plus what is on the moon, is gone. This is not an easy concept to understand if you are a beneficiary of institutionalized theft.
Vivo: Blame “the rich” for taking all that money you didn’t earn.
“Last month you earned $1000.
Your expenses were rent $400, food $300, insurance $200, gas $100, others $300.
This month rent was $350, food $400, insurance $300, gas $200, others $ 500.
What do you do?”
I would buy large-cap growth stocks.
hey, velveeeeedo. You’re going to have to do a whole lotto better than than trying to sell me as to the one or many reasons you’ve concocted for yourself for picking my wallet and savings account clean. “Wealth Re-disribution” is just a fancy word for theft, or in this case, it’s just a fancy asp word for grand larceny. Now just keep your hands where I can see them.
I always love how left-wingers pose this argument as if any sane person would elect to join a mob and rob their neighbors for the sin of having more than they do.
If you justify theft by the simple fact that you don’t have enough money to pay your own expenses, I hope you’re commenting from prison.
Oh, but since you get to vote on theives robbing your neighbors, I guess it’s legal and you’re OK.
Through the 2012 election the points made in this article (and every one written by Dr. Hanson) should be broadcast every waking moment to secure a change in the office of the President. Come 2013, should Obama remain, even if he’s hobbled by a Republican House and Senate, with nothing left to lose he’ll likely order blanket amnesty for illegals in this country, continue to circumvent the Congress by “executive order” and, God forbid, have the opportunity to name another Supreme Court justice who refutes years of documented leftist opinion before a Congressional panel prior confirmation, only to render subsequent opinions that align with their historical inclinations.
What the voters want (rightly) is a return to what in the 1950s was called “The New Age” — an era of accelerating economical growth, a strongly positive balance-of-trade, and plenty of good family supporting jobs.
It’s no mystery how that economic age was created (see link below) — and it’s no mystery either that the ideology-first politics of the lefties and righties had little or nothing to do with it.
That is why today too, the ideology-first politics of the left and the right are equally irrelevant … folks who repose their faith in either ideology are utterly deluded.
Electronics: The New Age
Monday, April 29, 1957
URL: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821134,00.html
A Physicist: Why did the electronics age take root and blossom in America, and not somewhere else?
Uhhh … because the FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations made massive, sustained, government-funded investments in mathematics, science, education, and technology?
Certainly that’s how nations today like China, Germany, and Australia interpret that lesson of history.
It’s interesting … their economies are booming.
Where are all the paradigm shifting innovations coming from China, Germany and Australia?
and BTW China’s economy is booming only inasmuch as it has rejected central economic planning and unfettered its private sector.
Of course, manipulating your currency to everyone else’s disadvantage, having hundreds of millions of peasents with no support mechanisms, and stealing everyone else’s intellectual property didn’t hurt matters.
Germany dominates printing technology, e-ink technology, and magnetic resonance technology … their automotive and solar energy technologies too are unsurpassed.
China now dominates rail technology, and is competitive in aerospace and energy technology and VLSI manufacturing … they are making a big push in simulation-driven systems engineering too.
Australia is strategically investing in quantum dynamics, photonics, and mining technologies.
In contrast, if you look around your house for high-technology items manufactured in America, you won’t find many.
America’s hollowing-out is what unregulated free-market globalization does to a country’s manufacturing sector — that is why Germany, China, and Australia have (successfully) crafted industrial and education policies that selectively reject unregulated free-market globalization.
Folks who insist, as an article of political faith, that ideology-first embrace of unregulated markets will reverse this hollowing-out, are grossly deluded.
Other nations are applying foresight-pragmatism-and-brains …America has fallen-back upon slogan-shouting-and-ideology … and that’s why we’re getting our *ss*es whipped economically.
A Physicist: You raise some important points (if a little obviously pre-packaged) in your last post on this thread. But its a sunny day today, so I’ll be back to make mincemeat out your argument later.
In the meantime I’d like to ask a personal question if I may? Why do you so willingly support your own bondage? I mean, why do you so actively adhere to a worldview that includes limits on your ability to move, act create freely, both mentally and physically? I ask this sincerely in the hopes of, if not an honest answer, at least a thoughtfull one. I generally ask this of every statist I encounter but never seem to get a direct answer.
Anonymous, that is a thoughtful, respectfully-asked question & the response will be the same (to the best of my ability).
Rather than “A Physicist” my handle might better be “A Systems Engineer” — modern physics being for practical purposes sufficiently accurate and well-validated, that unless one is doing string theory or cosmology, physics nowadays is mainly the study of the dynamics of complex systems.
In systems engineering one swiftly learns that optimal design strategies are almost always mixed strategies, that is, reasoned compromises of competing considerations. Is it any wonder that systems engineers are so fond of founders’ documents like The Federalist? Which is in essence one long essay in praise of reasoned compromises?
Countries like China, Germany, and Australia increasing appreciate the common-sense fact that markets too are designed systems … and in particular they appreciate the common-sense fact that unregulated markets generically exhibit the same chaotic behavior as any other badly designed dynamical system. Even worse, now that computers are in charge, large-scale disasters associated to chaotic dynamics can happen in microseconds—to aircraft, nuclear reactors, and banking systems. The plain fact is, unregulated financial markets (for example) can be as unstable as unregulated nuclear reactors—and can melt-down just as swiftly.
From this point-of-view, America’s ideological left and the ideological right today stand equally guilty of foolishly seeking to dismantle—on moronic ideological grounds—the pragmatic-yet-successful system of checks-and-balances that was so carefully designed by America’s Founders, and that is essential to the proper functioning of modern dynamical systems, whether technological, financial, social, or governmental.
The bottom line: Eisenhower and Clinton both were excellent presidents, under whose administration the country prospered … excellent because for both Eisenhower and Clinton, common-sense trumped ideology, well-planned compromises were appreciated as opportunities for creative and competent governance, and scrupulous attention was paid to the careful design and maintenance of checks-and-balances.
Anonymous,
‘A Systems Engineer’ as I recall has previously posted that they are in academia. That I think is the simple answer. Elitist who copy other scientific posts and post here are doing so because they don’t have the time consuming issue of managing people, payrolls and margins. They instead have secure tenure, unlike the rest of us, and graduate students teaching their classes
They think in towers looking down upon the hoi poloi. Theories, assumptions, statistics, vision, these are the things of academia, they are too engrossed in saving the rest of us to know trivial matters that we live with every day. Obama comes from this background hence the current condition of our economy.
The American people are quite capable of once again reigning supreme in science, math, physics, what have you (not that we are a basket case), if Obama, A Physicist, the government generally run interference for us and mostly get the hell out of the way.
Buster, smears like yours are typical of PJM/Tatler‘s peculiar brand of conservatism.
As with most American families, my own immediate family and I participate fully in *every* aspect of American life … private, public, volunteer, religious, and military service.
Ideology-driven posts likes yours, that consist mainly of ad hominem smears, amount to a public confession of utter bankruptcy in ideas and facts.
By this criterion, a very large proportion of recent posts on PJM/Tatler are utterly bankrupt … and therefore, they do not represent the best traditions of American conservatism in any meaningful sense.
Bankrupt? No “A physicist pontificator ” it is you and your friend Obama who are bankrupting this wonderful country of ours. You come to this site and all sites, I suspect, and cherry pick the posts that most accurately mimic what you believe and then tell us we are all fools and idiots and bereft of facts and knowledge for not jumping on your wagon and genuflecting before you. You tell us about all the problems of humans and Americans, but you don’t respond to legitimate questions and you have few answers to any of the problems you constantly bring to our attention. If you don’t like most of the posts on PJM then do what we are told to do when visiting MoveOn or Daily Kos go away. You obviously have no respect for anyone here why do you believe we should have any respect for some one who constantly talks down to everyone. It is you who is bankrupt of ideas and any willingness to even consider anyone else’s ‘FACTS’. Take your ‘facts over to the Kos where you will get the respect that you apparently relish. Or stay here and at least give some responses to questions asked of you instead of arrogantly blowing them off.
Oopps got to get back to the yacht. Cheers
Buster, historians (both liberal and conservative) consistently rank Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower (in that order) as the three greatest-ever Republican presidents.
Definitions of “conservatism” that angrily and abusively exclude everyone (like me) who happens to agree with this historical ranking, define such a narrow “small tent” vision of conservatism, as to have zero chance of capturing the White House, in the coming or any future election.
“A physicist” == “A fascist”.
You’ve made your position clear. Now go away.
OK. So “A Physicist Pontificator”. On the left hand you preach to us about AGW and IT CANNOT BE DiSCUSSED IT IS FiNAL and wonderful economies in other countries. Yet you are purporting to be WHAT A Conservative PLEASE Dear ‘A Physicista’ give me a break. You have done nothing but bash conservatives. I do not think you are remotely one. Go over to the Kos or MoveOn and get your strokes, don’t waste your time if your goal is to straighten us out. you are failing unless you are a true conservative which i am sure you are not. Apologies for format sending from my 22ft boat on Pinelake. Oh wait. I work with business and the poor every day and have owned 7′businesses. Get Oughta here or be honorable.
Buster
Buster, my son and his fellow Marines have taken to reading the German newspaper Der Speigel … whose balanced, politically non-partisan coverage makes it clear that scientists are very far from agreeing how fast sea-levels will rise.
The peculiar varieties of conservatism that seek to deny even the existence of these issues … and to cut-off with abuse their very discussion … do their nation no service. This is plain common-sense … the plain common-sense of every outdoorsman here in the pacific north-west … because we can *see* with our own eyes that the warming is real.
Buster, it’s evident that you do not agree with the thrust of Der Speigel‘s AGW coverage … but be aware that the US Navy’s oceanographers *do* agree with it.
UN Climate Body Struggling to Pinpoint Rising Sea Levels
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,774706,00.html
REPLY TO A PHYSICIST
A Physicist. You wrote:
“…Folks who insist, as an article of political faith, that ideology-first embrace of unregulated markets will reverse this hollowing-out, are grossly deluded. Other nations are applying foresight-pragmatism-and-brains …America has fallen-back upon slogan-shouting-and-ideology … and that’s why we’re getting our *ss*es whipped economically.”
It was the United States that revolutionized the world by developing, and / or successfully bringing to the mass market in an affordable way things like the lightbulb, the aeroplane, the automobile, the telephone, the television, the personal computer, the high performance computer operating system etc. Etc. All of the technologies you mention are basically derivative spinoffs of these paradigm shifting inventions, none of which were brought into being by government bureaucracies or politicians or technocrats. They were created by brilliant individuals who had ideas, and few impediments hampering their ability to offer them for sale. The marketplace took care of the rest. It was not the regulation of the market, but rather the market itself which not only enhanced the lives of billions, but generated untold trillions in wealth, raising the standard of living of more than 30% of humans above the poverty line for the first time in history. Wealth is not generated by government or by politicians, it is only redistributed by politicians. Sometimes it is for good reason, and enjoys popular consent. That is not what we are talking about here. Is it?
BTW Anonymous was me, Gylippus. Sorry for the confusion. Now onto your next post…
re: “…reasoned compromises of competing considerations” and “ designed systems” etc.
Wow, you just made a pretty good case for the “intelligent design” theory. :)
You are (in a long-winded, pseudo-intellectual sort of way) basically saying that you believe I should mix a little Keynes in with my Hayek, right? It’s ok, no need. I happen to believe that, under certain localized circumstances, that an infusion of public money can stimulate economic growth. It makes sense intuitively and I’ve seen evidence to support the theory. I am prepared to say that much if you are prepared to agree with me above when I say that the public funds used (whether borrowed or not) are ultimately created by the private sector. Yes? Good.
The problem is that I (and I think most readers here) don’t believe that is what we are dealing with here. We believe that the kind of obfuscation and equivocating you demonstrate here are (increasingly obvious) attempts to provide cover for a kind of neo-marxist transformation of American society; to be accomplished by a massive expansion of government bureaucracy, power and regulation; as well as a huge increase in the welfare state and public debt, while simultaneously crippling the private sector.
We see evidence of autocratic and even totalitarian rule in the way Obama refuses to comply with the War Powers Act, defies Federal Court Orders, appoints legions of unelected czars to legislate without Congress, refuses to uphold the law (DOMA), forces citizens to purchase services from a third party, proposes executive orders to force companies to disclose political contributions, gives huge corporate cronies like GE massive tax breaks, and absorbs others like GM… the list goes on and on.
And where is the economic miracle resulting from the trillion dollar stimulus that your model predicts? Where did the money go? Why have your wizards of central planning not teased a balanced design out the frothing chaos? Obama admitted that the jobs weren’t shovel ready, so where is the money?
Besides, you didn’t really answer my question did you? Why do you defend such obvious frauds and criminals? Why do you embrace a system that seeks to stuff you into a mental box (i.e. insists that you accept lies as truth, profess lies as truth, impoverish and immiserate other humans etc. etc?) Try hard. It would be good for you to try and find an answer to that question. Maybe there is hope for you still?
Gylippus, technology development happens to be my profession, and so I commend to your attention both John Murray’s First to Fly: the Unlikely Triumph of Wilbur and Orville Wright (2003) and Neil Sheehan’s A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon (2009) as together providing a vivid picture of the birth of America’s century-spanning aerospace industry.
Individual genius and enterprise are present in abundance … and so are public-private partnerships that fostered that genius and that enterprise. It’s not widely known (except to historians) that Smithsonian director Samuel Pierpont Langley carried on an extensive correspondence with the Wright brothers, in which he freely shared every lesson-learned from his own extensive attempts (that ultimately failed) to build a flying machine. In a very real and well-documented sense, Langley’s generous sharing of his failures provided the necessary mathematical and technological foundations for the Wright brothers’ success … and the Wright brothers expressed their gratitude to Langley publicly and generously.
The point is that when we look at how enterprise really works, we find that the truth lies in-between the fairy-tales of the far-left (heroic communal effort!) and the far-right (heroic individual enterprise!) … and it is these blended initiatives that America has historically done better than any other nation in the world.
As for “frauds and criminals”, they are encountered in math, science, and engineering similarly often to other professions … it’s just easier to verify independently whether the math, science, and engineering all work … and so frauds generally are exposed sooner than in other professions.
AGW now has a track record extending back to the mid-1950s — the (highly imperfect) people who conceived the basic science of AGW (many of them ardent conservatives) now all are dead … but their science remains and has gained in strength decade-by-decade.
Can We Survive Technology?
John von Neumann
Forbes Magazine, 1955
URL: http://books.google.com/books?id=HcVS1JCH_4kC&pg=PA33
A Physicist. Again you evade my main points with marginally relevant responses. Unconvincing.
Anonymous,
And that is my point and the point of many who have responded to “A Whatever”, he talks and evades and lectures, talks, evades and lectures. He is an elite in the midst of us mere mortals, like his patron Obama.
As an example he will not discuss anything but AGW. Global warming/cooling as an event that has been going on for 4 million years is not to be considered. The science is complete and AGW is the answer, except for one small problem, he has no answers other than stop burning carbon. There that should fix it.
You are right Buster. But sometimes I find it useful to prod these strange creatures into completing at least one full loop in their circuitous thought processes. I find it strangely calming. Maybe because its so predictable.
Besides there is always the (dim) hope that it might snap them out of their reverie; or the more useful possibility of exposing their techniques, especially for younger readers. I also like to keep questioning my own assumptions, just to make sure I’m not missing something. The brand of absolutely certainty you refer too is a hallmark of theirs, and it is usually a sign of a fearful mind that recoils from the chaos inherent in human life. In fact A Physicist refers to this chaos in wholly negative terms. He doesn’t understand that it is the raw material of life, as well as all other creative manifestations.
Rather than “A Physicist” my handle might better be “A Systems Engineer”…
I am a systems engineer. It’s not a title nor is it a better ‘handle’ for what my expertise is. That’s how I make my living. I work with physicist day in and day out in my consulting work transforming ideas into something real and working. Many, even most, of the physicists I work with have still have a toehold in academia, even if just a guest lecturers. None are primarily academics. The reason for this is that the academic physicists usually cannot succeed in the marketplace because they do NOT apply sound system engineering procedures and practices to the task at hand. They need to be under grant money where fiscal trade-offs are bought off with financial largess.
I have read some of your posts on AGW. I’d like to say that I have seldom seen such academic bigotry, ivory tower elitism, and general disdain for anyone not accepting the party line wisdom you dispense. I can’t say that, however, as I do see a lot of it.
Be that as it may, your explanation of what it means to be a systems engineer is nonsense. The Federalist Papers fantasy especially exposes you. A competent system engineer most assuredly does NOT think that way. Also, your respect for the provenance of data, grasp of the differences between trends and cycles, non-existent respect for the short comings of modelling algorithms, and your picking and choosing from data sets exoses you further.
If you are a physicist, and not a fraud, you are in academia. I suggest you do all you can to stay under that umbrella because you aren’t tooled to make it in the private sector.
“Just Passing Through”, it might sooth you to reflect that at least some physicists have been outstanding systems engineers. Indeed, modern systems engineering was largely conceived by two PhD physicists: Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge (who are the “R” and the “W” in “TRW”).
For details, I commend to your attention Si Ramo’s survey article “The development of systems engineering”, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (1984).
Famously, it was Ramo who defined systems engineering to be “The design of the whole, as constrasted with the design of the parts.” And yes, Prof. Ramo at least is still teaching at UCSB—at age 87. Hopefully these reminders will leaven your perception of physicists and systems engineering! :) :) :)
A Physicist
Some physicists are outstanding system engineers. I never said differently. I’ve worked with many. You said you considered yourself a systems engineer. You may teach physics, but applied physics or systems engineering? Nope, I see no evidence that you are or would be considered either one.
Your condescending ‘soothing’ is at the level of jackassery given your history here. As I mentioned, I read your take on the AGW fraud, and haven’t enough respect for you at this point to take any of your purse lipped nonsense seriously. I find a fair number of commenters here to be widely read, careful and commonsensical professionals succeeding in many fields. You dismiss them in toto from your lofty perch because they don’t agree with your laughably unscientific lecturing. I would respect them far less if they did agree with an elitist fraud so full of his own opinion of his intelligence like yourself.
I believe you’re a fraud because you have no respect for the provenance of data. The first matter of concern, and the first line of questioning a good systems engineer follows if he or she suspects concern is warranted, is the provenance of the data. Where did the data come from, how was it collected, is it complete, does it match what the models predicted and if not, why not and so on. You understand the answers to those questions before you ever think of proceeding. The provenance of data is the system engineer’s religion. Many of the people dueling with you in the AGW posts roasted you over this. They recognized when data was manipulated to support a preconceived notion, even if they didn’t express it that way.
‘Indeed, modern systems engineering was largely conceived by two PhD physicists: Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge (who are the “R” and the “W” in “TRW”).’
Really? Nonsense. They were some of many taking the lessons learned during the research explosion of the WWII and early Cold War and knocking it all together into a coherent systems engineering process. Keeping it close to home, both MIT and Raytheon would disagree that two TRW physicists or indeed any specific persons or groups could claim they conceived modern systems engineering. The idea is ludicrous.
‘Hopefully these reminders will leaven your perception of physicists and systems engineering! :) :) :)’
What they do is reinforce my perception of you as a fraud. It is immediately obvious to any casual observer with any grasp or appreciation of good science. Tossing out references when you haven’t a clue what they actually mean in the real is the mark of the ivory towered educated idiot.
Normally I would not bother wasting my time you. I’ve had too many clowns like you waste my time over the years. So why would I even recognize you on a socio-political blog, especially after reading your nonsense on AGW? I AM a system engineer. Have been for 30 years now. The asinine reference to the Federalist papers and the utter inanity of trying to somehow conflate systems engineering principles into supporting what is nothing more than a treatise on the virtues of centralized control touched me off.
Just Passing Through, my own efforts mainly focus on quantum systems engineering. As for whether I’m any good at it … who knows? It’s early days for quantum systems engineering, and there are so few of us (at present), that as in the early days of the missile-and-space program of the 1950s, no-one knows who’s good and who’s not. So your skepticism *does* have some basis in reason. For sure, though, it’s exciting times—we quantum systems engineers have enterprises in view much larger even that the space program.
I commend to your attention Stephen B. Johnson’s The Secret of Apollo: Systems Management in American and European Space Programs (2002). It’s not so easy to sum up a work like Johnson’s in a sentence, but I’ll try: Systems engineering is the systematic removal of excuses for failure in enterprise, and the systematic sustainment of justified confidence in success.
I owe the preceding distillation to my son, a US Marine—because a similar systematic process begins at the very moment that a raw recruit’s shoes hit the yellow footprints at the Depot.
Does this mean that a systems engineer in enterprise fills a similar role to a DI in the Marines? In a word, yes. In particular, our work is respected even when our message is harsh. In enterprise, is there “fog of technology” similar the “fog of war”? In a word, yes. In enterprise, is it true that “planning is essential, even though plans are useless?” (Eisenhower). In a word, yes.
I hope these reflections help you to a more serene, happy, and productive outlook! :) :) :)
I do not believe you. No serious effort at quantum systems engineering would include someone whose conclusions are based on illogic and despite for data that does not fit what he just kinda hafta really wants to be true.
Naw, you haven’t a clue what systems engineering is and don’t practice it or you wouldn’t blather about ‘systematic approach’. And ‘Systems engineering is the systematic removal of excuses for failure in enterprise, and the systematic sustainment of justified confidence in success.’ might serve the academic’s need to appear sage to his students, but it’s nonsense to a practicing system engineer. Did you think to impress a third party reader?
This could go on ad nauseum, but this last post just reinforces my impression of you. I believe you a fraud whose condescending attitude is at the level of jackassery. Sophomoric actually.
“Just Passing Through”, my reading of history is that real technological revolutions originate in mathematics, not politics. For sure, a accelerating revolution in mathematics capabilities is underway in systems engineering … which is good news for an American economy that urgently needs such capabilities.
The historical parallel (IMHO) is von Neumann’s mathematical formalism for fluid dynamics, shock waves, and combustion in the 1940s and 1950s … nowadays a transformation is underway in quantum dynamics that is similar to this 1950s transformation of classical dynamics.
At the national level, politicians can do much to accelerate or hinder this transformation, but globally speaking, it’s unstoppable.
Here is one of the first “shots fired” in the modern revolution … and the US Navy is commended for recognizing the revolutionary potential of these ideas. :) :) :)
Hamiltonian mechanics and geometry
by Saunders Mac Lane
Chauvenet Lecture at the US Naval Academy
URL: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2316733
Al Gore helped China invent the internet. Everybody knows that.
China and others are also very adept at stealing our secrets and innovations and/or backward engineering them. But that’s OK, isn’t it.
In the 1950′s Europe was ruble and Asia was in ashes. All our economic competitors were on their knees. That is why we boomed in the 50′s.
Plus the fact that China and India hadn’t made their splash yet. In the 1950s, they were backward socialist nations, with millions in India living at the bare subsistence level or even starving. India’s “industry” consisted of hand looms.
Needless to say, that’s no longer the case.
Ruebacca, “…in the 50′s…” Yeah, with the only functioning economy it was easy to dominate events for a few years. So how come the US nomenklatura had such an epic fail in not grasping that the curves were going to cross back again as all those countries we were rebuilding [ with up-to-the-minute technology ] gradually became competitors? Inflating wage costs in the US for political reasons only hastened the day of “outsourcing” or “exporting jobs”. A ray of hope is that China appears to be shooting itself in the foot on its local debt, and there are some southern US states which are on the verge of being competitive again in sectors that have high transportation costs. With a policy of energy independence and Federal spending austerity jobs can come back. Question is, will the Chicago political machine hacks and czars continue to follow 100 years of “Progressive” tactics, or will they begin to administer for the good of ALL the country? Hope and vote for positive change in 2012. GBUSA
And so we come to the nub of “A physicist” and his political philosophy: The government should confiscate the labor of you sub-humans and fund the over-priced halls of academia because we’re smarter than the rest of you and can spend your labor more efficiently.
GFY.
You all realize that this nutjob gets his jolies when you address him like a sentient human being, don’t you? It’s the biggest thrill in his arid life.
So “a physicist” outs himself, not as “a physicist” but as a “Systems Engineer” AKA the IT worlds equivalent to a Janitor – a hardware monkey one step above help desk.
Also don’t bother speaking of my nation, the fact that you lump Australia in with “China” shows want an absolute nutter you are. We are closer to the US than any other country in the world in our free market beliefs and our government spending as a percentage of our GDP is comparable to the US’s. US conservate arguments are by and large supported by both major parties here.
But don’t let reality get in the road of you making things up, as in your occupation (actually a lowly “Systems Engineer” even the “Engineer” in the title you give is a lie: you’re a hardware monkey) and outright lies about my country.
Also China isn’t “leader” in Rail you nitwit, they lead in nothing except wholesale rip-off of other countries IP, their train tech is ripped off wholesale from the Japanese!
God he writes so much yet is so very hollow.
If the debt ceiling is such a terrible place to be, then why did he approve a stimulus that shoved us right up against it? Why not a leave a little breathing room?
I’m not yet convinced Obama is trying to bring our country to its knees — if not outright destroy it — nor am I able to believe the contrary, given what he’s done and continues to do.
gotta be this or that, vince
“I’m not yet convinced Obama is trying to bring our country to its knees — if not outright destroy it — nor am I able to believe the contrary, given what he’s done and continues to do.”
Well, Vince, what does O need to do (or not do) to nudge you off that fence?
It IS confusing –because he no doubt DOES love America –but only as real estate. And he wants yours, he really does.
But you DO have to define your terms, in order to clear the confusion, i think.
America the fabulous food-producing farm, with all these great rivers and lakes and ports and potential dachas held by others via flimsy pieces of paper called ‘deeds’?
Or America the constitutional republic with (ideally) a liberty-creating free-market under the rule of law?
The one, Obama wants –his masters want, too.
The other, naw they hate it and can’t kill it fast enough –it’s been making them look bad forEVER not to mention drawing talent and capital from their corrupted alien lands.
I’m not at all confused, not really. I’m just not ready to vote guilty — not yet. My opinion of obama has changed little since I paid more than scant attention to him. What I feared most about him becoming President was that he might be able to transform America in a way he only hinted at during his campaign. The transformation is well under way, unfortunately, but I’m not convinced it’s because he’s all that competent: he benefits from both Gray’s Law and Hanlon’s Razor.
Did you notice that the idea of just bringing overall government spending down to 2008 levels has simply vanished? What was so terrible about that idea? It would save trillions of dollars and all it would do is bring back the budget to where it was when Obama stumbled into office. So, you’re telling me that we can’t even live within the gigantic 2008 budget? Buddy, then we really DO have problems in this country.
Obama now is determined to use HIS astronomical budgets as the new baselines, so now the huge increases pushed through by the Democrats are the norm to be upheld at all costs. I know this is a silly question, but don’t these people have any shame? Don’t they feel even a little bit of guilt after telling us one lie after another? And to what end? to live in a bankrupt European-style social welfare state? If the country comes crashing down on August 2nd (which it won’t), it will be only one more reason to fire as many Democrats as possible in 2012.
I just finished watching a very good production of “The Rise of the Third Reich” on the International History Channel. One thing stood out clearly, Hitler had totally grabbed control of all of the levers of power in Germany within 18 months of the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933. After that Hitler was able to claim that the “Communists” were destroying the German society and he unleashed Government violence and power fullbore against all opponents.
We may not have that much time left if this group is as organized and determined as they appear. It is a bad sign that they are now about to use the Government forces of the FBI and FCC to try and bring down Rupert Murdock of Newscorp.
“If they can “chain the lion” then the lesser dogs will cower in the corner.” A quote attributed to Willy Stark aka Huey Long in the “All the King’s Men”.
Fox News is clearly our lion and unfortunately for America’s freedom of speech we have no other.
Maybe it is time for us to realize that these people have been plotting this takeover of Government for decades and the fact that we have only one television outlet that has any semblence of honesty left is not a good position for us to be in.
There are many signs that indicate that the current plot has indeed been planned, at least in its general outline, for decades. However it has only been activated relatively recently. Their “Long March” has been very succesful (though by no means complete). And as far as the current push goes, they had actually hoped to be much further along by now, and to be more invisible. We have slowed, almost stalled their agenda. These represent significant victories for our side; and are promising in that they reveal flaws in their planning, and chinks in their armor. Their front lines are frayed, they have benn thrown off course, their appeals are beginning to seem pathetic in their transperancy (even true believers have a hard time mustering enthusiasm for defending such weak arguments), their support is dwindling and they will not be able to rally anywhere near the same kind of energy at the polls next year as in ’08. They still have many strengths however, and their control of the media is perhaps foremost. But Americans are awake and opposed to the dangers they represent in a way that the Germans of the 1930′s never were. The Nazis were able to resonate a certain message that appealed to their generation, these Dems can’t, except to a deluded minority.
Having said that, its clear that we have a fight on our hands. Will Media Matters’ promise to take out Fox News bear fruit? I hope not. But they have a lot of money and few scruples, so they will almost always be able to find a way to tar their opponents from the shadows. Either way, it is (always has been) up to us to defeat the Left. Forge ahead no matter what. We will take more hits, it will get much worse before Nov. ’12. Stay focused, stay resolute, never give an inch. There are some really solid Conservative leaders out there who are prepared to lead the charge. Don’t get distracted by the Left’s mud-slinging, no matter how loudly they blare it in the MSM. It’s just the fog of war. Ultimately we dramatically outnumber them, and are more focused and committed. Oppose their propaganda with the truth. Expose their distortions and deceptions, and combine that with the overwhelming (historical and contemporary) proof of the grand failure of leftist policies; and the tyrannical mindset that animates them.
Are we on the Right perfect? Of course not. To even think that is naive and immature. But ultimately we believe in the potential of the free individual, and in an open-ended future. The key to victory for us is to refuse to let them throw us off track and dissipate our energies through petty squabbles and partially manufactured crises etc. Keep putting massive pressure on your elected representatives to completely oppose Obama at every turn, and prepare mentally for a bitter campaign. If we loose Fox, we still have talk radio. If they silence the airwaves, we have the internet. If they shut that down, we have our telephones. If we loose those, we have our ham radios. If those go, we still have each other. If we have to use flares in the night and smoke signals on the hilltops we will do what we have to to keep our dream of freedom alive.
Murdoch’s organization hacked the phone of a murdered little girl and erased messages on her phone, giving the grieving parents false hope that their daughter was still alive. They also tried to hack the phones of 9/11 victims. If an organization like this is your “lion”, then you have truly lost your way. FOX doesn’t care about you. They don’t care about your ideals. They just care about making money off of you, and they’ll spoon feed you infoslop because it makes you feel good inside to know that someone in a suit is agreeing with you all the time. Your inability to understand that is crucial to the scam they’ve got going on you. The way you folks cling to your propaganda outlet reminds me of Cuba. Casto’s got the same racket over there that Murdoch’s got going on over here.
Whatever its flaws, Fox (largely via Glenn Beck) was instrumental in getting the word out regarding Obama’s wider ideological influences and connections. For that we can be grateful.
Did you get lost on your way to the HuffingtonPost?
“Hitler had been sworn in as Chancellor and head of the coalition government on 30 January 1933. As Chancellor, Hitler asked German President Paul von Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call for a new parliamentary election. The date set for the elections was 5 March 1933. Hitler’s aim was first to acquire a National Socialist majority to secure his position and eliminate the communist opposition. If prompted or desired, the President could remove the Chancellor. Hitler hoped to abolish democracy in a more or less legal fashion by passing the Enabling Act. The Enabling Act was a special law which gave the Chancellor the power to pass laws by decree without the involvement of the Reichstag. These special powers would remain in effect for four years, after which time they were eligible to be renewed. Under the existing Weimar constitution, under Article 48, the President could rule by decree in times of emergency. The unprecedented element of the Enabling Act was that the Chancellor himself possessed these powers. An Enabling Act was only supposed to be passed in times of extreme emergency, and, in fact, had only been used once before, in 1923-24, when the government used an Enabling Act to rescue Germany from hyperinflation (see inflation in the Weimar Republic). To pass an Enabling Act, a party required a vote by a two-thirds majority in the Reichstag. In January 1933, the Nazis had only 32% of the seats and thus were in no position to pass an Enabling Act.
During the election campaign, the Nazis alleged that Germany was on the verge of a Communist revolution and that the only way to stop the Communists was to pass the Enabling Act. The message of the campaign was simple: increase the number of Nazi seats so that the Enabling Act could be passed. To decrease the number of opposition members of parliament who could vote against the Enabling Act, Hitler had planned to ban the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (the Communist Party of Germany or KPD), which at the time held 17% of the parliament’s seats, after the elections and before the new Reichstag convened. The Reichstag fire allowed Hitler to accelerate the banning of the Communist Party. The Nazis capitalized on the fear that the Reichstag fire was supposed to serve as a signal launching the Communist revolution in Germany and promoted this claim in the Nazi campaign.” Reichstag Fire Wikipedia
A lot of echos of the past in todays news. Why has no one pointed out that as Obama rules without the Congress he is in fact “dictating” the law?
Nickel: Good historical perspective on politics. Though never proven, most assume the Reichstag fire was set by the Nazis and used as an excuse to eliminate the KPD.
Obama has taken many plays from his predecessors’ playbooks. Slick Willie managed to convince many people that he was an intellectual (instead of an oversexed rube). Obama did the same trick, insisting that he was the smartest guy in the room because he went to Harvard Law.
The Nazis claimed the KPD was fomenting revolution in German. Obama claims that “the rich” are stealing money from “the poor”.
Self-aggrandizing and claiming straw man fallacies are par for the course for the socialists. Orwell had them nailed in “Animal Farm” when the animals thought they were smarter than the farmer and that the animals had to be on the alert for the invasion of the farmer, who was the source of all the animals’ woes. In the end, of course, the pigs became the farmer, being “more equal” than others.
The only defense against propaganda is the truth. Most people think that because the truth may be self-evident, it doesn’t need to be stated. The founding fathers, though, put it in writing, pledging their lives, fortunes and honor to declare the country as free.
Willie Sutton never really said he robbed banks “Because that’s where the money is,” but at least it made sense.
I usually stay away from DailyKos, but follow-up on my Willie Sutton reference took me there. At http://kwick.me/x29z, Lawrence Welsch wrote, “There is no money to be found with spending cuts” and went on to say, “There is no money to be found in the earnings of anyone in the middle or lower classes.” Welsch is wrong on both counts, of course, but it gives him a good reason to “rob the rich people.” That’s exactly what he said: “rob the rich people.”
No, I’m not suggesting that taxes should be raised on the “middle” and “lower” classes. As for raising taxes on the rich — wouldn’t that be close to pointless, given that the money would end up in the hands of a government that has not a clue how to spend money wisely?
VDH, I was pleased to read your credit card analogy. It is, of course, an over-simplification, but the common sense behind it is so fundamental that even we, the great unwashed gun and religion clingers, grasp it.
So,the family is maxed out on its credit cards and nobody’s going to give us another one. In addition to not being able to meet our costs of living, we are saddled with paying interest charges, which are already equal to 50% of our total income. The spoiled kids say “OK,we’ll cut back on the extra stuff we planned to buy this year, settle for an electric car instead of a gas-guzzler, and so on. We’ll cover it by stealing from our neighbors. They’ve got more money than they need. But no way are we going to cut back on our style of living. You promised us,Daddy!” It is all so easy. You don’t have to worry about getting credit approval from those greedy bankers. And you don’t have to put up with the kid’s temper tantrums.
This is the Spoiled Brat Economic Stupidity Syndrome. And according to our Harvard Graduate Constitutional Scholar President, 80 of Americans suffer from it.
That should be 80% of Americans, of course.
80% of Americans are “functionally uneducated” and literally brainwashed.
It is telling to see vivo’s comment (above) that plays the race card. This is definitely considered a trump card that is used when all other reasoned argument is played out. It sickens me to think that (some?) of Obama’s supporters can be so devout that they believe this nonsense.
The ultimate irony of any racism claims is what I see as Obama’s constant voicing of “classism”. The rich are evil, treading on the backs of the middle and lower classes. Worse, Obama self-identifies with this rich class, although he is quick to point out that he’s willing to do more to help the downtrodden. While Obama seems to push for equality with a warped play on leadership/government by the proletariat, he being the protector and voice of the common man, he believes that learned academic professionals are the appropriate people to govern. This should sound familiar…
So you think this is nonsense. All you have to do is look at the irresponsible, crazy, paranoid behavior of GOP legislators.
Where is the Democratic budget?
There is indeed a similarity to the abandonment of democracy in the Third Reich – and Obama’s contempt for Congress.
Obama has shown this contempt for ‘the people’s Will’ from the start, with his insistence that Congress pass His bills without reading or debate. Now, he primarily ignores Congressional laws and is ruling (yes) more and more by Executive Fiat. Cap and Trade didn’t pass: Obama has his unelected EPA carrying out its tasks. The Dream Act didn’t go through; Obama has his unelected ICE carrying out its tasks.
Obama has two agendas but only one is really ‘his’. I claim that Obama has no ideology; he’s pathological and his only agenda is: his power. Obama, psychologically, needs to feel that he towers over and controls others. He cannot feel equal to another, can’t interact on a one-to-one equal basis.
That’s why Obama has no identity. No clear ideology, no history of accomplishments. To have or ‘be’ an identity means that others can interact with you based on that identity – and can critique it, or even..feel equal with it. Obama can’t have that. He has no identity. He takes on whatever images he does…to manipulate you, to appeal to or to frighten you. So that he is in control of your reactions. You don’t react to him as he is..if he had an intact and genuine identity. You react to him as he wishes you to do.
So- he wants your adulation in 2008? He’s anti-Bush, he’s Hope and Change; he’s The Messiah. Inauguration? He’s Lincoln. Now, he’s Reagan or..
We are puzzled by Obama’s constant flip-flops. One month he’s against tax increases; the next, he’s all for them. One year he’s against raising the debt; the next year he’s all for it. He’s for the surge, he withdraws the troops. What we must realize is that Obama, who has no identity, no policies that he firmly believes in….declares his support for a policy only when he must manipulate you to achieve his only goal: His Power.
He’s fast and easy with ‘facts’; in other words he lies, he misinforms as he campaigns (and that’s all he does) to gain your submission.
The political party in which Obama is embedded, the socialist Democrats, is for Obama, psychologically obvious. Socialism operates by setting up a governing structure of Rulers vs Ruled…and Obama’s psychological nature requires him to control a submissive population. He cannot interact as an equal. Plus, this inequality suits his need to reject others as individuals, as independent businessmen, as having wealth.
Obama is campaigning now (and he’s not capable of being a president, of developing policies or programs). He can’t campaign on his domestic or foreign policies as they are disastrous; he can’t really ‘bring it off’ by a full anti-Bush or Hope and Change emotional campaign. So, he needs to buy votes.
He needs the money – and that’s why he wants the debt raised. Obama’s electoral base are not the independent small businesses which he is seeking to destroy by raising taxes of those over 200,000; it’s not the individual entrepreneurs whom he is destroying. His electoral base are those who live off the govt money: the massive unionized public service (which the Stimulus money went to); and the increasing 50% of the population on social service and other govt funding. That’s his electoral base.
He can’t cut their programs; he can’t even retain their numbers as stable; he must increase both their programs and their numbers…to win the election.
This debt-call and crisis is being railroaded by Obama’s need for ‘stimulus money’ to buy his election. He wants to not merely increase their numbers but he wants to announce special ‘bonuses’ for the ‘poor’…for the illegals, for the..whoever..he can get to vote for him.
And he’s getting desperate; he’ll get vicious and malicious – and playing the race card, inciting class divisions and hatreds…all of this is part of his strategy. Already, his minions are playing both..
What happens after his reign…he’s indifferent to this; it has no reality, because for Obama, reality begins and ends with Himself.
“We are puzzled by Obama’s constant flip-flops. One month he’s against tax increases; the next, he’s all for them. One year he’s against raising the debt; the next year he’s all for it. He’s for the surge, he withdraws the troops. What we must realize is that Obama, who has no identity, no policies that he firmly believes in….declares his support for a policy only when he must manipulate you to achieve his only goal: His Power.”
yes. He is either a genius at this, or incredibly lucky. After all, if millions of people flip coins continuously, one of them will flip 25 heads in a row at some point. Somehow, he has realized that if he makes it clear in private to his supporters (specifically, the ‘elites’ who want nothing more than to be considered the arbiters for humanity, and the type of regime is irrelevant) that he will give them what they want, then they will work tirelessly to hide his lies from the public. He has learned that the lies don’t matter to people like us, who wouldn’t support him if he was Honest Abe, or his sycophants, who would support him if he was Attila the Hun. He only needs to trick the fraction in the middle, and since his salivating arbiters control the message to the 80% who are not us, he can say anything, no matter how outrageous, whenever and wherever he likes, with impunity.
VDH’s article effectively illustrates the shocking nature of this. He literally will say ANYTHING. You are absolutely correct, ETAB, that he is an unmatched narcissist, but I think he is also a psychopath. Only a psychopath can have the chutzpa to totally ignore the norms of human behavior while maintaining a normal, even happy, outward appearance. And that is what I fear about him the most. He seems to have no limits.
I heard Mark Levin chew out a listener recently for bringing Hitler up while discussing the Hater in Chief, but I don’t find the comparison strange at all. The only difference I can see is that Hitler arose in an environment where the population didn’t have a long-standing tradition of self-rule and a deep-seated respect for human right. So far, Obama has ignored the law and American traditions, overruled long-settled law, lied so shamelessly and continuously that it is impossible to think it is anything other than his preferred behavior, abused his political opponents by virtue of his position, demonized everybody who disagrees with him or whom he wishes to exploit, schemed tirelessly to destroy our government and way of life, meddled without reason in the affairs of other countries to the point of destroying several allies, acted as an unrepentant con artist, demonstrated the sensibilities of a street thug, and shown complete disdain for the people that he is supposed to serve. Based on his actions to date, there is no reason to doubt that, if he thought he could get away with it, Obama would be any more troubled by Hitler’s approach than the path he has chosen.
I fully agree that Obama is a psychopath and he’s moving further and further into its delusions and its needs of control over others.
Yes, he’s moved outside the law; his contempt of Congress isn’t new and he now effectively ignores its laws (eg, he ignores Cap and Trade by having EPA carry out its rules anyway)…He ignores the constitution, the laws of the land (he does not protect the border, does not control illegal entrance, does not acknowledge that Congress controls wars…)
And he’s vicious, absolutely ruthless against any who impede his need to control others. I think this need of his is increasing as his circle of contacts increases. That is, if he had been left as a community organizer, his pathology would have affected only those in his local domain. Catapult someone that pathological to power – and his need to control all around him increases beyond his immediate capacity..so..he uses government and unelected czars and sycophants to achieve this control.
Obama is, as I’ve said, without identity. If you have an identity, a set of principles, morals by which you abide, then, others interact with you based on that set. Obama can’t handle others interacting with him on a one-to-one equal basis. So, he has no identity..so that this interaction can’t take place. Instead, he, like a chameleon, reflects their desires, sets himself up as a Stronger Them..and thus, in a strange psychological way, dominates them.
That’s why he flips all the time; he’s reflecting the desires of each different audience; he has NO principles of his own. His agenda is singular: Control the interaction, dominate the interaction, dominate the people around him. That’s Obama.
He’s desperate for money now because he has to dominate his electoral base who are primarily funded by govt funds. So, he needs the debt raised and he needs more cash – raising taxes on the private non-govt businesses.
Why don’t the GOP call him on this? Can anyone believe that a duly-elected president is a pathological psychopath? That he has no principles, no morals, no identity – and is only about Himself?
And – a president who has cloaked himself in the cocoon of racism? Confront him, criticize him..and you are a racist. Obama soaks himself in the security blanket of racism. And, he covers himself within the ideology of his electoral base, the left, as anti-capitalist, anti-wealth…when he, via Fannie and Freddie and his whole team..are hand in glove with the mortgage fraud gang.
I doubt if the GOP can criticize Obama personally; they have to attack his policies of debt/taxes..and Obama, fighting for his re-election, which is all he cares about, is malicious, vicious, unprincipled and frankly..evil.
I don’t believe he is a Psychopath; Sociopath more accurately describes him.
“Sociopaths are often able to appear witty and charming. They are skilled at flattery and have a knack for manipulating other people’s emotions. While they have the ability to be charming, they may suffer from frequent mood swings and angry outbursts.”
Yes, sociopath/narcissist more accurately describes him, but when he reaches a critical threshold where he feels he is losing control of his ability to control others – this can turn psychopathic. And he’s near that point, I suggest.
Obama is near a critical threshold; he needs money, a lot of it, to bribe and cajole his re-election since he can’t run on his record..and he has no ability to run as ‘himself’ (since he has no ‘Self’). He’ll turn vicious unless he gets this money…
..I prefer the term scumbag …but sociopath /narcissist works
It depends on whether you think he is harmless or not.
If you think he’s harmless, then he’s a sociopath.
I think he’s about as harmless as Nero was.
What is being overlooked is that in all of these cases, what is being described is symptomatology.
Psychopathy, sociopathy, narcissism, etc., are not just “personality disorders” existing in and of themselves. They are also symptoms of more serious mental disorders.
When coupled with Obama’s belief systems and his various statements, many of which have repeatedly been referred to as showing he is “out of touch with reality” or “living in his own alternate universe”, these symptoms would (in the clinical sense) be consistent with schizophrenia. His constant treatment of anyone who disagrees with him as an enemy who must be defeated, or destroyed, would strongly suggest that he manifests paranoiac ideation, a common symptom of the Type 1 and 2 subcategories of the disorder.
It must be noted that people with this sort of disorder tend to gravitate to extreme or radical worldviews. They are frequently found involved in UFO cults, conspiracy theory “believer” groups, and radical politics. What all of the above have in common is a belief that they possess superior knowledge and wisdom which the “masses” will one day have to bow to- at which point they (the “believers”) will be rulers, and the world will be a Utopia because all evil will have been vanquished by their superior intellect, morals, etc.
Seen in this light, President Obama’s behavior (which is often self-defeating) makes perfect sense. Put simply, he is too entranced by his own delusional constructs to see the real world. And that, too, is symptomatic of schizophrenia, especially in the more advanced forms.
clear ether
eon
Eon – interesting and probably accurate analysis. I had simply gone as far as ‘clinical narcissist’ with the sociopathic and psychopathic results.
But your description of paranoid schizophrenic seems more accurate. The fact, and it is obvious, that Obama lives in an ‘alternate reality’ unconnected to the real world – I’ve commented on this frequently, defining Obama as living in a ‘Virtual World’ made up totally of words and unconnected to objective reality. Obama can’t interact with the real world or individuals; he has to control that interaction between the ‘external objective world and people’..and himself.
He does this via his misinformation and manipulation; he lies constantly and he interacts via emotion…charm, laughs…and threats. As I said, leave him in a small domain such as a community organizer and he’s probably relatively harmless. But put him in a situation where the real world becomes enormous and constantly expects him to react to it…and where lots of ‘other people’ whom he can’t control…emerge and attempt to interact with him..and he falls apart.
So – he uses race as a major cocoon; he’s done that all his life. He uses non-interaction, voting ‘present’ in his years in the Senate. He uses words..for his only existence is within words not interactions. So, he makes terrorism go away by rewording it as ‘man-caused disasters’. …and so on.
When ‘real people’ attempt to interact with him – he forbids interaction (I’m the President). And he puts them down and insults them. Can you imagine a president, saying to Eric Cantor who was heading the GOP debt negotiations …to ‘Eric, go out of the room so the adults can talk’. Obama said that.
Now – that’s a sign that Obama feels threatened by Cantor and must demote him to ‘a child’.
So- your outline of paranoid schizophrenia does seem valid…a state that Obama has moved into as he has lost control of his pathological need to control his ‘alternate world’ and control all interactions with himself.
In light of yours and eon’s descriptions of Obama’s personality disorder I took the opportunity to toss in scenario such as mosque, camel, desert, and may have found something that explains it all.
My childhood didn’t involve any stays in Indonesia and my dad wasn’t Muslim. I’ve never devoted much time to worship and certainly not with the likes of Reverend Wright. My wife of Texas lineage has never spoken of any dislike for this country- or guns, for that matter. We’re about as American as it gets and for that we should apologize? To who?
The Muslim ‘call to prayer’ may be quite a beautiful sound but I’ve never heard it and unlike Obama, have never said the same. My favorite sound would be the silence that follows the sound of war where victory has been achieved and peace prevails, if only for a while.
I think it had to really hurt Obama to send in the Seals to extinguish Osama. It took him a while (dithering) to get it done. This was a feature, not a bug. As with oil exploration on our shores, the same effect occurs: lowering of Saudi/Arab incomes while lowering terrorist threats, ie. lessening Islam. In Obama’s world, neither is acceptable.
Lying to infidels is encouraged to advance Islam. Joining the military to shoot-up thirty while killing thirteen US servicemen is too. Rolling a grenade into a tent of fellow marines isn’t frowned upon by mullahs as far as I know. These things happen to advance The Cause. This President, who’s personality you’ve so well described, is ‘rolling the grenade’ through the American economy and he can’t lie enough to cover his tracks. But the media will.
I wish it were more complicated than this, but it isn’t. We, The People, are now the passengers on Flight 93 and the election in 2012 will determine our fate. Armed with nothing more than box cutters (higher taxes on $250K+ incomes, private jet owners, etc.) with the likes of Sheila Jackson Lee still throwing the race card around, their not likely to defend the ‘cabin’ very long. Hesitance may come from those afraid to tackle Social Security and Medicare which may hurt their re-election prospects, but time is running out. “Let’s Roll!” is the battle cry America needs to hear. After that, we can revisit ‘the call to prayer’.
Thank you for the insightful thoughts and valuable perspective. I wish those dutifully trying to establish some vestige of reason in the bugetary process could read it whenever they feel disheartened. I thought the last part of the piece captured the real, frightening state of where we are in a financial sense.
We are having a titanic struggle between the power centers over fitting a patch and beginning the pumping, while on the verge of sinking, with a good portion of the contingent unknowing or unwilling of the problem. We should be patching the breach, pumping, jettisioning cargo, checking/prepping life rafts, checking navigation, talking to the rest of the convoy, and anything else we can think of to keep from going under.
WE talk of politicians flip-flopping. Obama’s entire history is that of nothing but flip flopping and outright lies and deception. It is so easy to follow it is astounding that there are actually 42% of the people who still worship him.
There are so many lies/deceptions it is hard to find a place to start, but I would say that walking away from the Simpson-Boles recommendations by Obama and the Republicans may be the most eggregious act ever perpetrated on the American people. It has been completely ignored in the discussions and it stands, in my view, as an excellent blue print for recovery. And now it gathers dust, where it once was Obama’s personally selected team to provide us with all the answers to our woes. Dust.
Further the republicans have completely missed the opportunity to clearly state that any new revenues/taxes will not be spent on deficit reduction they will be spent on new entitlements and pet projects, because there is no historic evidence to prove otherwise. They don’t bring this up because they are as guilty as the democrats. Albeit there are a few new faces and hopefully more to come who will turn this on it’s ear.
I am not concerned about Obama getting re-elected. He will go down in a humiliating defeat and rightfully so and into history as the absolutely worst president in our history. His hope is gone.
Voting for an individual only because he is black is racist to me.
there’s a whole lot of white racists around who hate whites, and america, too
“But it is far easier to create monsters and joust over the slices of a shrinking pie. So the current economic paralysis will persist as we continue demonizing the mythical “them”
It’s all they know and it has realiablly worked for several decades. Setting up strawmen and knocking them down in front of the cameras isn’t going to save Obama, or us, but it will be repeated weekly until November 2012.
The Shire wants scouring.
Vivo, get over the race hurdle already.
Republicans and other conservatives are doing battle on the issues, on the hard realities.
People on the left keep circling back to the genetics of the current resident of the White House and obsessively can’t let the subject go.
Why?
Is there something you need to be more honest about?
Lie here on Dr. Foreman’s couch and tell me all about it…
Since it is unaccountably true that ’42% of the people who still worship him’ after all that this country, and the world for that matter, has gone through in the last two plus years of the Obama administration, then it will be no big trick for our great leader and the mass media who pushed for his election, to convince another 9% or so to also ‘worship’ him and lead us into the future. I shudder to think what will life be like if, after the 2012 election IF it comes at all, President Obama is still in power. IF President Obama is defeated, there will be repercussions from the left that I believe will be violent. If he succeeds in his re-election, I believe that the ‘celebration’ will extend for more than four years from the left. With his re-election, the left will proclaim a new age of ‘progress and enlightenment’, declare him President for life, and we’ll all happily go into the new, new age of ‘Hope and Change’. Even before the age of Obama, I once told my son who ‘hoped’ that a certain outcome would occur in his life, he was 11 years old at the time, that he should try hoping in one hand and ‘pooping’ in the other to see which one would fill up first. In a short story by Steven King I read last year, I saw that same statement from a heroine of his. GMTA, I suppose, but the fact remains that so far, the s**t is piling up much higher and the hope is ephemeral. Hoping for an outcome never gets anyone anywhere, but it beats working. Apparently that is what the 42% who still ‘worship’ the ONE, believe most heartily.
Coeurmaeghan in 29 Palms, CA
All commentary on Obama’s public statements (and, for that matter those of most leaders of the Democrats these days) should begin and end with consideration of the charming little volume
Frankfurt, H.G., On Bullshit. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.
They neither know nor care what is true about economics, foreign policy, recent polling data (well they might actually know and care the truth of that one, and actually be lying rather than bullsh*tting) or much else, but simply say whatever is expedient to their own power at any given time. This isn’t lying, it is bullsh*t, which Frankfurt concludes is a worse enemy of truth than lying.
Only Republicans with spines, like the ones who fought the civil war, will be able to fix this. We the people created it by elected this fraud Obama. If we go the way of California then abandon all hope all ye who enter here.
The discussion about the debt ceiling is a sideshow, and a sideshow that the moron loves, because he can’t lose. It’s nice to think that the country can operate without raising the limit, but it’s a false hope. Sure, there are plenty of studies now that show that debt service, SS, Medicare, Medicaid, and the military can all be paid out of current tax receipts, but there is no way the rest of the federal monstrosity will be shut off something like 90%. So it’s a pipe dream. The debt limit will be raised one way or another and Republicans, even conservative, will support it. Period.
The important things are the marxist strategy and the Republicans unfathomable reluctance to reveal it. The strategy is simple: they increased spending by 40%, and now insist that the increase be built-in permanently. This will inevitably destroy the USA as we know it. That’s the goal.
But the Republicans don’t even need to say it that plainly. They just need to say that the “debt crisis” is 100% due to the $5 Trillion in new spending, not a penney of which was supported by the public, and not a penney of which has helped the economy in any way. To solve the “crisis”, all that has to happen in the short run is to roll-back that $5T in new spending. What has been spent is gone, but the country doesn’t have to continue flushing money down the toilet, just because the dimwits did so for 3 years. Again, the debt-ceiling has to be increased, but by rolling back the spending level to 2008 (or earlier), there will be no need to lift the ceiling until 2013 or 2014. When Republicans win in 2012, they will lead the effort to solve the entitlement crises and realign the government with the Constitution, in other words, with what worked for 230 years.
Instead, of course, the Republicans choose to play patsy to the marxists, and allow themselves to be portrayed as the party shoving granny off the cliff. You have to wonder if they are mentally disabled, dupes of the marxists, or surreptitiously on the other team.
proreason:
“The debt limit will be raised one way or another and Republicans, even conservative, will support it. Period.”
You are absolutely correct. Except for the period.
It is utter nonsense to imply that the debt limit should be raised. It should not be.
This massive, monster out of control government needs to be stopped in its tracks, not at some time in the future, but now, before it devours us all.
And that can only be accomplished by cutting off the fuel that feeds it, money.
Giving our communist leader and his cohort at the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke the additional time and printing press ink it takes to track us all down and eat us is just not rational coming from an otherwise seemingly intelligent person who refers to himself proreason. Your message in my humble opinion does not lead to the path we should encourage others to follow.
CGW, I’m just saying what is inevitable, not endorsing it. In my opinion the Repubs have screwed this up so badly, that it is pretty much a total loss at this point.
The biggest strategic error since Hitler invaded Russia was for the Republicans to push for Medicare reform in 2011 instead of waiting till they had a majority. Once they did that, all was lost.
The proper approsch was to was link the debt ceiling to rolling back Obama’s 5 Trillion in new spending, back to 2008 levels. THAT was winnable, or at least, partially achievable. Anybody can understand that government is insane to increase itself by 40% when the country is fighting through a recession. The Republicans could have compromised by allowing increases in food stamps and unemployment, and come out as heros.
Instead, they have drawn completely unwinnable battle lines and allowed themselves to be shown as idiots and fools.
And if you think a useful balanced budget amendment is going to be passed by this Congress, or a Cut Cap and Balance measure with any kind of teeth at all, or any kind of “entitlement” reform whatsoever, or even meaningful budget cuts…then you are in the same category as the republicans.
Even the earnest and patriotic Tea Partiers have been suckered on this one. They all look like impossible idealogues. And I say that while agreeing 100% with their principles.
proreason:
To raise or not to raise, and why, should be the questions and Obama should be forced to answer them before the gutless republicans agree to any increase in the debt ceiling.
“Take it to the people”? Yes, I think so. Now is the time and without a doubt there will not be another opportunity to wage a bloodless war against those determined to destroy the nation.
I couldn’t disagree more who is boxed in. Obama couldn’t explain coherently what he had for breakfast this morning. Even Mitch McConnell is surely up to the task of laying bare the truth in this crucial matter although I agree with you that he hasn’t the courage to do it. A multi-millionaire ex-Senator retired in Kentucky. Sounds good to me as it must to the fearless leader.
How can anyone believe that this nation can survive and prosper with a national debt of seventeen trillion dollars? Greed and utter insanity is the most likely answer in my always humble opinion. In the immortal words of Joe Biden, “this is a big f*****g deal”. Sometimes, a Just War needs to be waged. Let August 2 be D Day.
We’re being double-teamed. The Islamists (Obama and crew) have joined the Marxists (Alinsky-ites Ayres and Dohrn types from the faculty lounge) to dismantle America, and from the rubble, erect their new Utopia.
Of course, there’ll be a second battle which the communists will lose, but they’re too stupid to realize their mistake. The Oil Financed Death Squad will not tolerate the collectivist any more than any other infidel.
In an act of respect for their part in bringing down the Great Satan, perhaps the camel herding clan will invent a multiple head shearing device, such that the collectivists may leave this world in groups to satisfy whatever the hell they’ve been worshiping all these years.
Obama wants whats best for all Americans. Except for the ones he demonizes, except for domestic oil workers, except for those going to charter schools, except for those who like there health care….
THE GREAT OBAMA BLUFF
The gist of what Obama said at the press conference Friday was this:
“If you Republicans continue to childishly oppose me and don’t agree to do the unpopular thing and raise taxes on a weak economy (soaking the rich like Hoover did in the 1930s) then I’ll be forced to do the unthinkable: I’LL OPT FOR ARMAGEDDON and blow up everything. I warn you GOP if I don’t get my way on tax hikes to cut the huge deficit (caused by my reckless spending) I’ll default on the debt and plunge the nation into a second Great Depression (the one I saved you from with my stimulus); and it will be on your heads.”
This was the message of a president who said in the same breath that his “50th birthday was next week” when it’s three weeks away; and that 80% of Americans (including most Republicans) support his “balanced” approach to solving the debt crisis (though he’s against balancing the budget). Should we fear what Obama said and take him seriously? HELL NO! What we saw was empty, desperate fearmongering by a weak man ready to cave. It’s like the Freudian Slip that he made to Eric Cantor when he walked out on him Wednesday, “Don’t call my bluff…..,” he said. Because that’s what he’s doing, HE’S BLUFFING.
Click my name to read my widely linked Townahll piece, Barack Obama and the Crack Up of Liberalism.
“The thinking is analogous to this: the adolescent takes the chronically indebted family Master Charge card, maxes it out, has no more credit, and then asks his father and mother to take on additional jobs to find the money to pay off the debt, but while insisting that he keep all his previously charged junk — and the card as well.”
A great analogy that puts it in terms the average Joe can understand but it could be carried a little further. The adolescent will demand that Mom & Dad, in order to avoid the dreaded “default”, get the bank to increase the credit (debt) limit on the card so he can use the additional credit to “invest” (incur more debt) on more useless, frivolous stuff and what else?….why pay the interest on the old and newly incurred debt until the card maxes out again of course. And little Tim & Ben say the lender (taxpayer) better comply or disaster will strike.
Yeh! Makes perfect sense if you’re an adolescent. But if you still have doubts try this strategy on the institution that’s servicing your debt and when they laugh out loud tell them to call Tim & Ben. Yeh! That’ll work
Let’s see—it’s been decades since “defining deviancy down”, “the dumbing down of America” and “Slouching Towards Gomorrah” nailed our human condition.
And, TODAY, the American citizenry is composed of—you guessed it:
A solid majority of recipients of the “teaching” from those three quotes.
How else could an annihilator like Obama actually become the leader of the “free” world?
Here’s the Cosmically Funniest thing—at any given instant, we each firmly BELIEVE our programmed sheiss! That is, we take ourselves to be RATIONAL members of the human race, whereas in Absolute Truth, we exist animated mostly by—RATIONALIZING.
“I’m all right, Jack. Don’t worry about me”.
RIGHT!
I don’t think the “softies” who make up the right wing of Americans, who are guided by a rugged individualistic ideal, even yet seriously get how amazing Obama is.
He is the to-date best political magician, ever—-watch him continue to fool enough people, even as they appear to be closely watching him!
He’s the nugatory exemplar of “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
Yes, his dedication to bringing about “nothin’” is Absolute!
I know people like him—I “are” one!
In Zen, a wild Koan goes, “A real man steals food from a starving baby.”
So, over-educated dudes like BHO—and, his brother in this status, Slick Willie—are “Realized” beings. That is, they have come to a Higher state, wherein they assume they have TRANSCENDED everything—they are FREE of conventional bonds, to say the least!
Now, the O.U.T. or Observe, Understand, Transcend “commandment” is truly only meant for those who aren’t driven to take over the world!
Just as fire is dangerous in the hands of an arsonist, but useful in many ordered ways, one who “Transcends” can wreak horrors on the rest of the world.
Remember the eternal “trinity”, of creator, sustainer, destroyer.
There is Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva in Hinduism, and Yahweh, Jesus and Satan in Christianity.
Obama is the DESTROYER, in person!
Watch his amazing dance—who can stop him?
By the way, the epitome of the “rational” qua “reasonable” humans who are NOW trying to counter his devilish onslaught, the GOP leaders in D.C., are merely the latest examples of another hoary saying—
“THEY JUST DON’T GET IT!”
Obama is WAY BEYOND reasoning with!
In his own “mind”, just to have to talk with such inferior types like Boehner, or especially Cantor, is completely beneath him.
Obama believes he has a “gift”!
That is, he believes he is a GURU—in all the worst connotations of that word.
Jim Jones is in the White House!
Yikes!
Need I predict what comes next?
The definition of “solving a crisis” for a citizen and for a politician can be quite different. The citizen usually wants the crisis solved in a genuine way, no bs. The politician, OTOH, wants to escape smelling like a rose, stay in office, stay out of jail, use the crisis to gain more power, and best of all avoid tar and feathers.
The people who are “solving” this crisis are the same people who created it.
It is impossible for them to fix it.
WAF.
Sideways.
The debt crisis is easy to fix. Payoff the debt with stock in the governmental factories, all of which have to be located on U. S. Soil, manufacture all the same goods we purchase from China, and only employ U.S. citizens who currently rely on the U.S. government for support. Then tax anyone who purchases from the U. S. Government factories. Also, no salaries at these factories. All workers receive loans against future profits since the workers are given ownership, to be paid from their life insurance after death, of 51% of the factories and land on which they are located. The government owns nothing. The productivity of these factories would be phenomenal, there would be no labor unions, only owner unions and the 49% stock holders will earn more money in the long run than they will from U. S. treasury notes paying 2%. And anyone in the government who proposes interfering with the free fully competitive market or being paid except for a share of the profits they produce through the government will immediately be fined $1,000,000 with no appeal. Taxes for defense and law enforcement only, and reserve sovereign immunity to tax payers only, not government employees and servants. President judges legislators and all have complete tort liability for all the harm they do to their fellow citizens. And criminals pay for all government expenses. A dream yes, but it would be a better world.
I meant to say, tax anyone who fails to purchase from foreign factories rather than our domestic versions.
LOL … Edmund Burke, if yer willing to replace “factory” with “clinic” …
… then yer post describes a mighty close approximation to Swiss-style variations of ObamaCare/ClintonCare/RomneyCare! :) :) :)
So why not drop the obsessive bumper-stickers of political ideology, and open-yer-mind to practical realities? :) :) :)
Consumer-driven health care: lessons from Switzerland
URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15353534
Low coast free market and consumer driven health care sound just like what I propose, provided it is advanced with a broad expansion of medical schools and pharmaceutical companies to provide alot of profit-oriented competition to keep prices down in the free market. I am glad we both agree with the obvious, Mr. Physicist. Only the criminals and racists who want to keep the poor down by shrinking the wealth and money supplies (because they falsely belieive it will keep them in a good safe public sector job) would disagree.
The image of President Obama yucking it up with Jeffry Immelt over shovel ready jobs, pretty much sums up his whole 3 years. All lies, obfuscation, and misdirection while spending us into oblivion.
Nice summation of the current Obama madness. Obama is such a disaster he should be on the verge of becoming a caretaker president in the White House. For now, though, dems are in full defend Obama mode as a strategy to save their party from what will probably be an epic thrashing next year. The centerpiece of their strategy is to make Republicans look bad—a real winner in normal times.
But these are not normal times and dems know they have a serious problem with Obama. Even if he and they come out of this fight with something short of defeat it’s unlikely to give Obama an epiphany on the errors of his ways. Instead, they will probably get an Obama in full class warfare mode for the remainder of his presidency and the damage he could do to the Democratic Party next year could be epic. So, will dems dump him? Their only hope otherwise is that if a third party candidacy comes along—manufactured or otherwise; but this is something that, if seen even once in a lifetime, most voters will never buy into again. The dems have nothing left in their political bag of tricks except to hope that Republicans cave. But if Republicans do they might as well start looking for other means of employment after November of next year and they know it. Thus, it comes back full circle to a dem problem of what to do about Obama.
“… if we just had a government-paid-for house, car, plane, food, and expenses).”
If President Obama doesn’t pay per diem rates for his meals, like every other Officer in the military, that would be wrong. If he doesn’t pay for his family’s meals, that would be worse.
IcePilot;
You’re paying for their meals (damn good ones, too) as well as supporting his mother in law living in the White House at the taxpayers expense.
My question is; Why is there no one from his white side of the family living in the White House?
…and the aunt ..living on welfare. GOD BLESS AMERICA
VDH …it is time to acknowledge that obama intended to do harm to the USA as it was. just his debt and obamacare have destroyed the country (just waiting for the accounting)
like when stalin forced farmers off the land ….he knew it would cause starvation.
And that’s why he wants to raise taxes: he knows he will not be re-elected and he wants to give a final blow to the economy.
A perfect subversive.
I am old, rarely I have seen such fanaticism.
The Commie in Chief, indeed.
But then again, the problem is the whole administration, not the single person.
well he actually did raise the taxes.. …a consequent of his economic war on the value of the dollar and the massive spending .
those are a defacto tax as the money will have to be repaid.
Excellent article, Dr. Hanson! Obama and the Dems have nothing to offer but cynicism, negativity, bogus accusations of “racism” and a whole lot of hate-flavored koolaid. They are following the old Obama strategy of voting “present” on the important issues.
“Why does the president claim 80% of the people want taxes when polls prove no such thing?”
What he means is that 80% of his constituency, the ones who matter, the 40% who don’t pay taxes, want to increase taxes on the other 60%.
Re-read your “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx, then think of Obama-Mao’s daddy, his early substitute father figures, then later his mentors and intellectual buddies. Might as well pull out your old copy of Sigmund Freud’s efforts too for a little reading: Recall that Obama-Mao wrote a book “Dreams of My Father” and ask yourself, what happened to daddy?
Let’s crash the American economy, then rebuild it with a new (and improved!) model…say one that re-distributes wealth…err socialism…not that’s not quite right, I mean “communism” will do. Add a little muslim twist in this “cocktail of revolution” and you will have that drink my Socratic friends!
How did dear ole “daddy’s life” end? Time to finish your reading with a little William Shakespeare!
Obama-Mao has not intention of ending this spending binge, nor do anything to stop his destruction of our world here in America.
Whitey: You’re the “new and improved debt slaves” of modern times!
Suckers…big time!!!
What is fascinating is to watch the liberal pundits on TV who are still enamored by B HO. They still speak about him as if he is the “second coming”. The glow in their eyes, bright smiles and praise they lavish on him is beyond anything seen since the time of Adolph Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. The adulation for this man speaks for itself. Never once is his record mentioned, his foreign policy mentioned, his social gaffs mentioned, his unprecedented spending mentioned, his arrogance mentioned……the list goes on and on. On the other hand there are the life long Democrats who are disillusioned. They are the party faithful who have voted Democratic all their lives and now face the dilemma of the current leftist Presidency. This is not what they have figured upon. All that they have worked for and hoped for has been thrown in their faces and they are now included in the persona non grata of this administration. They too are responsible for the social ills of this country. They have watched a program of social benefits designed for the disenfranchised black man of this country morph into the give away program for the illegal alien. They watched their President threaten Social Security, Medicare and promote a give away program for medical insurance that will likely bankrupt this country. They have seen their beloved country slandered and minimized by the President. They are no longer able to voice their opinions to their party and be heard. Yet, it is inconceivable that they will vote Republican.
They are truly lost. This is a real situation that is ongoing. They are the lost Democratic generation.
While it’s been happening, the trouble with freezing social security benefits is that prices of everything have gone up dramatically. Grocery prices seem to be up about 10% or more in many cases.
Inflation is annoying to most, but it really crushes those on fixed incomes.
Taxing the ‘wealthy’ who own small businesses won’t help either. Why? Because those ‘wealthy’ people will have to adjust prices and even fire people to afford more crushing taxes. So, we all end up paying more for everything because of the tax-man. The poor will pay more too. It will affect everyone in a bad way but people never want to see far enough ahead to realize the “unintended consequences”.
Nice essay, Dr. Hanson. But, you do realize Obama doesn’t care about the devastation he leaves. He’s taken care of for the rest of his life. He’s the ultimate Party hack.
If he’s willing to cancel payment to Social Security, which has dedicated funds coming in every month, and authorize redirection of those funds for payment to welfare and food stamp parasites, that don’t pay anything into any of these programs, that should be all you need to know about this scum bag.
If all the House does for the next 18 months is negate and stall any and all legislation out of Congress and the White House, they will have done an excellent job.
Increasingly I am distressed with what is happening in Washington with respect to the fact that the administration has no other position than spending more while the Republican leadership seems inept in their dealings with the President. The fact that the so called main stream media and the “intelligentia” are in the tank for Obama makes the task of the Republican leadership more difficult than it should be. But where is the leadership in the Republican party? Where is the person who can step forward and challenge the President and take away his initiative? Except for Paul Ryan and Eric Cantorm who are forced into the background by the Speaker, there appears to be no one.
Obamism. I like it. Better than Ozombienomics. Easy to spell also. Tracks better with Democratism, like Marxism and Communism.
Every time a liberal says Republicans overspend as much as Democrats, I think of this chart: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/79840/ The Democrats took control of the House and Senate in 2006, and Obama won the presidency in 2008.
Could somebody please explain to me why a Congressman compared not passing the debt ceiling hike to Star Wars? What is that supposed to mean?
Eliminating Departments is an Excellent idea. The ones named are a good start.
One thing though, when it comes to the Dept. of Ag, y’all do know that Food Stamps, School Lunch, WIC, Low Income Food Distributions, Packing Plant Inspections and several other programs are part of USDA right?
That the majority of the USDA budget/spending has nothing to do with Agriculture, per se, right?
And who will be responsible for these programs, which of course won’t end, when the USDA is eliminated… as I agree it should be. Who? The laws of unintended consequences can lay on a heavy toll for poorly thought out hatchet work these days.
So the current economic paralysis will persist as we continue demonizing the mythical “them”
heh- you well explain why this So-Cal b-boomer became a Christian. I came to see the liberal democrats as being little different than the rock throwing Palestinian grandmothers. Stub your toe and blame Satan, or the Jews or the rednecks driving SUV’s in middle America. At first I thought it was about the liberals being the worlds greatest hypocrites – which they are. But then I realized it’s not a left or right thing. It’s a blame thing. As long as you are blaming and shaming you just a part of the problem. There is plenty of blame to go around. To fix the problem, you have to get past blaming others and work to be a part of the solution.
For those people who don’t understand this clearly, we can go on every month just paying the interest rates of $29 billion a month on the almost $14.3 trillion national debt and I am well aware of the $200 billion a month in tax revenues, but how long can we keep it up without destroying other important programs that are essential to our future? I do not think this route will be sustainable. It’s only a short term fix and not a long term resolution.
President Obama is looking at the long term resolution and that’s why he is looking for the biggest deal. Why does he want this? This decade is a very critical decade because this is the crossroad for America to either sustain or turn over the balance of power to China as the world’s number 1 financial superpower. A temporary or short term fix in our current $14.3 trillion national debt and not turning our economy around will ensure the transfer of the balance of power to China. Just imagine the future as China’s worldwide economy, since they would become the centerpiece of the worldwide economy and no longer America. Can you even imagine this? Can you imagine what that world would be like? Can you see that we need to make the biggest deal possible now to create solvency against this national debt in this decade? This is the most critical decade because the balance of power is shifting to China and the road is as clear ahead as day for them. This national debt situation has been our plague from one presidency to the next and if we don’t do it now, the balance of power to China will be a reality.
President Obama wants to raise the debt ceiling to allow for the funds to get this economy back on track. Keep in mind that the debt ceiling was raised 19 times during the Reagan Administration and 9 times during the Bush Administration without a hitch. Then create the biggest deal with $4.3 trillion in spending cuts within this decade, but $4.3 trillion will only scratch the surface of the new debt ceiling amount, whatever it will be. Spending cuts in this decade will not and cannot do it alone. It has to be a combination of spending cuts and new tax revenues from the very people whom could afford this without even noticing it, like myself. This is how we will create solvency against this national debt within this decade and guarantee our positioning as the world’s number 1 financial superpower. This is what President Obama is looking at, the very big picture.
The only thing Obama can be looking at is the revolving door through which his economic advisors come and go, on their way to yet another success.
Dave;
Either you are am Obama hack or a fool. There is no long term plan anywhere. No more than there is a Democrat Budget Plan available to consider.
But, don’t let a little detail like that discourage you from your wordy ignorance.
Carry on. Somebody will find you entertaining.
Cybergeezer,
The saddest thing in this country in regards to people like you is that when someone uses reasoning or intelligence that do not fit to your belief system, they are labeled a troll, hack, fool, party slave, etc. In most cases, people like you do not have your own resolutions or reasoning but rather, all you have are contempt and vulgarities for people who actually have intellectual ideas or solutions. This is what makes this country sad. This is what our society is showing our children. The chances of China not becoming the next number 1 financial superpower of the world are very slim. The path is already determined and it’s people like you who makes this possible in this country.
Dave;
Man! You’re on a roll! You should apply for Katie Couric’s job, or write for Politico or Huffington Post.
YOU’D BE FAMOUS! But, no more intelligent.
“Then create the biggest deal with $4.3 trillion in spending cuts within this decade, but $4.3 trillion will only scratch the surface of the new debt ceiling amount, whatever it will be. Spending cuts in this decade will not and cannot do it alone. It has to be a combination of spending cuts and new tax revenues from the very people whom could afford this without even noticing it, like myself.”
I can predict with nearly 100% certainty that “Dave” is one of the following:
1. Highly paid public sector employee.
2. Education industry mandarin (possible overlap with 1).
3. Trustafarian.
4. If he actually does own a small/medium business or have a high-paying job in a small/medium business, it’s a rent-seeking business whose existence owes itself to some set of government regulations (making him a de facto category 1).
5. Financial industry crony who will profit by keeping Obama in office, regulating smaller businesses/industries so they can’t compete with his.
6. Attorney who needs to keep lots of laws and government about to create work and an income stream (again, overlap with 1).
Nobody who is in the non-rent-seeking, for-profit private sector could write the above words with a straight face.
You do know, Dave, that you can always pay more taxes voluntarily? Why don’t you do that, hmmm?
No?
Then don’t volunteer anyone else to do so, either.
I’d just add that everyone, every single person, who feels the need to say out loud “we can’t do this just with spending cuts” is secretly hoping for no spending cuts at all and probably spending increases. Like you are hoping, Dave.
The truth is we cannot get this country on track to compete with China until we cut 30-40% of the non-defense public sector work force at all levels of government and cut the salaries of the remaining workers by 25-30%. End illegal immigration and these folks can take the jobs the illegals have been doing, solving two huge problems at once. (Too damn bad if they’re not happy with the pay scale – consider it punishment for the parasitizing they’ve inflicted on honest, decent, productive people like me over the years.)
Simultaneously put much more strict metrics on the remaining public functionaries for raises, promotions, and continued employment. Reintroduce them to the concept of anxiety over their income should they be lazy or incompetent. No more taking all your “sick” days on Mondays and Fridays, public “servants”.
Do all that, and then we can talk about raising taxes. Until then, you’re just a hack blowing smoke.
no mo uro,
Again, you have proven my point in my response to Cybergeezer on my comment# 48 above. I am none of the points that you have brought up. The sad thing is that people like you and the likes of Cybergeezer have mastered the art of guesstimation that you completely feel justification by it. Don’t pat yourself on the back too soon yet.
I like some of the points that you have brought up and I could also add cutting national defense and military spending within this decade. We have our military deployed in over 150 countries around the world. This is completely needless and obscene, especially in countries where there are absolutely no threats to them or to us currently. We are completely exhausting our resources in this area. But again, all of these cuts alone will not create solvency against this enormous $14.3 trillion national debt within this decade. It has to be a combination of spending cuts and new tax revenues in this decade. This issue is similar to the energy issue where drilling our way out is not the answer. We have to create a multitude of avenues to get us there.
“For those people who don’t understand this clearly, we can go on every month just paying the interest rates of $29 billion a month on the almost $14.3 trillion national debt and I am well aware of the $200 billion a month in tax revenues, but how long can we keep it up without destroying other important programs that are essential to our future?”
Care to name some those “important programs tare are essential to our future?”
“President Obama is looking at the long term resolution and that’s why he is looking for the biggest deal.”
Define what that resolution is as he is vagues in the details, as are you.
“Keep in mind that the debt ceiling was raised 19 times during the Reagan Administration and 9 times during the Bush Administration without a hitch.”
Care to name the amounts? You need to read up on the articles instead of simply reading the headlines– Reagan asked for increases on the debt ceiling as the democrats in Congrgess would not agree to spending cuts in the budget. Sound familiar? Whats that, there is no budget this year?! Ah.
Your sophmoric writing skills and the rubbish in the posted contents reveals you’re not to be taken seriously. Study harder and be sure to send that extra money to the IRS when you find the time.
Buckeye Abroad,
As much as the people in the far right such as yourself want to believe that FICA is a welfare program, it is not. It is a prepaid program made by the hard working middle class and this program could be in jeopardy if we don’t get our debt crisis in order. As far as what the biggest deal entails, I can definitely say that it is a combination of spending cuts on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid but the President is asking for a compromise of some amount of new tax revenues for this decade. This is not a unreasonable request since his offer of spending cuts and the total amount of that is what the Republicans have always wanted.
You can Google the amount of times the debt ceiling has been raised on any of our presidents since its inception in 1939. I will not do research for ignorant people such as yourself because you would only prove my theory in that, no amount of evidence will suffice for someone with a close-minded belief system. As far as your disagreement with my post, you have your right and reservations but making immature insults seem to be the norm for the people of this forum.
Dave, you are a fool.
“It [FICA] is a prepaid program made by the hard working middle class and this program could be in jeopardy if we don’t get our debt crisis in order.”
It was suppose to be, but then LBJ and the democrats folded the social securtiy funds into the general fund in 1965 and it’s been long spent. I won’t point out the massive fraud regarding Medicare and Medicade.
“..I can definitely say that it is a combination of spending cuts on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid but the President is asking for a compromise of some amount of new tax revenues for this decade.”
He wants to raise taxes in a recession which is completely ignoranant, but thats what you, and him, are Dave. The cuts are laughable as they do nothing to reduce the debt vs spending in the long term hence no reason to compromise. Massive cuts and less borrowing is the only answer and the squirm room is shriking for Obama to kick the can down the road.
“I will not do research for ignorant people such as yourself because you would only prove my theory in that, no amount of evidence will suffice for someone with a close-minded belief system.”
(1) You have done NO research yourself, so don’t bother doing it for others, and show no knowledge of what you are talking about. (2) You have stated no theory, but please post it for our entertainment. (3) You have provided no evidence consequential to what you are claiming.
In fact, from your posts, you place blind faith in a federal goverment to solutions/programs via the means of more taxes and spending than what they are actually able to collect or borrow. That, my friend, is a close minded belief system called liberalism. There is a cause-and-effect relationship between state and citizen and maybe someday you will grow up and discover what that is.
Wow Buckeye Abroad, you came up with this drivel all by yourself. I’m really impressed. Listen Junior, I am well aware that the Social Security benefits are long gone and each generation is now paying for the previous generation’s Social Security benefits but the fact remains that each generation has prepaid into the fund before retirement so it is not a welfare program. That’s why it’s called an entitlement program, son.
Base on your stance on FICA, I take it that your entire family tree never used it or will never use it in the future. Tell me it isn’t so, Junior. I’ll bet you on it that it isn’t so. I would start checking with ma, pa, grandma, and grandpa if I were you.
“..but the fact remains that each generation has prepaid into the fund before retirement so it is not a welfare program. That’s why it’s called an entitlement program, son.”
I found myself needing to comment on your stupidity, for the readers sake, about how obtuse this posting of yours is. You can rename a tax or fee all you want, but it’s still a burden.
(1) You are entitled in life to nothing. You have NO claim on the labor or investment of others. (2) The ponzi scheme called social security is coming full cirlce. There isn’t enough dupes, aka. contributors, to pay for the increasing pool of parasites, in all circles of the globe, looking for their “entitlements.” Common sense should have revealed that ages ago, but that “closed minded belief system called socialism” infects many.
My generation pays full its share of taxes, but none of us expect reaping any benefits. We are to busy paying for everyone elses greed and envy. Wonder how long that will last?
“I’m really impressed.”
No effort needed on my part.
He needs to look for a bigger deal so he won’t have to ask for another huge debt limit increase until after November 2012. He couldn’t care less about anything else and will settle for anything that will keep him from having to address the problems created by his drunken sailor spending habits before then. You follow?
Jim Baker,
Check out my answer to this on my comment# 52. A simple mind deserves a simple answer.
I would like to make one last note for people who believe that the Bush tax cuts work –
During the Bush Administration’s 8 years, 3 million private sector jobs were created versus the Clinton Administration’s 8 years, a whopping 23 million private sector jobs were created, in spite of higher taxes. The proof is in the Wall Street Journal’s article below.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/01/09/bush-on-jobs-the-worst-track-record-on-record/
LOL … “Noooooo! That can’t be true! That’s *IMPOSSIBLE*” !!!”
URL: http://www.pyleoflist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/darth-vader-luke1.jpg
Yep, Reagan created an environment that lasted right up until 9/11. When capitalism is allowed to prosper, the economy always grows by leaps and bounds.
Even Clinton couldn’t kill it, try as he might. Fortunately for the country, the Republicans held Congress in key years of the adulterer’s administration, and Al Queda hadn’t got lucky yet.
It takes a marxist as determined and insidious as Obama, abetted by a brainwashed media, to really kill a country like the US.
Yep, Reagan created an environment that lasted right up until 9/11… oh wait … unless yah mean an environment in which:(1) American median family incomes became stagnant or declining beginning with Reagan.
(2) Reagan ordered America’s Marines to cut-and-ran from terrorist bombing in Beirut … yeah the Islamic terrorist bombers sure never forgot *that* lesson from Reagan.
(3) America’s global science-and-technology leadership was squandered on Reagan’s disastrously wasteful failure called “Star Wars”.
If yah ever wondered why American historians, both liberal and conservative, consistently rank Eisenhower higher than Reagan … well now yah know.
Remember what I said about your not being able to grasp the relationships between the provenance of data and sound science? Or when looking at your claim to be a system engineer how I mocked your inability to understand systems? or your risible literature searches to try to impress?
This comment is a perfect example of why you come off as a complete fraud. I’m beginning to think you are not even connected to academia, much less a physicist.
Those peculiar brands of conservatism that respond to sobering facts with ad hominem abuse are weak.
The hurt and the sorrow hasn’t lessened one iota over the years
URL: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/terror.htm
After ruminating about Dr. Hanson’s thesis, It looks to me that Obama believes the only way to become a country that can rival one like Iran, N. Korea, or China, is to become a government dominated nation, in their likeness.
Congress has been ruling with an iron fist on their unilateral agenda for 4 years, and all that’s needed is a dictator that can rule with an iron fist. Obama thinks he’s the one, with his gang of supporting misfits in Congress.
They are patently shirking their Constitutional duties, and waiting to be called to the floor for negligence. They have known for years that they had a “budget” requirement, and the “debt ceiling” to deal with, AND HAVE DONE NOTHING.
The corruption is so thick and deep, it’s going to take some serious, drastic measures to reconcile their depravity.
With a gang of this depth and size, it’s no wonder that there is no good man or woman willing to step up to confront them.
The government sympathetic media will be unleashed like junk yard dogs to render them fit for the vultures in Congress to feast on, and entertain their constituency.
I really love your writing, but you seem to equate the American rich with the productive classes in a way which elides the problems in the financial sector. Are extremely highly paid bankers that take their institutions into federal receivership and hurt our economy really to be admired? One would think not, but you ignore their role in getting us to where we are today, and their continued looting of our institutions.
I have a comment to make in regards to Mr. Hanson’s assertions or shall I say guesstimate of the Obama Administration’s $5 trillion spending during his tenure in office so far. There is absolutely no basis or evidence to support this accusation. Making your case is one thing but professing false claims and propaganda is another thing. Here are the true facts of the Obama Administration’s spending so far in the Daily Beast –
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/08/obamas-spending-exclusive-estimate-of-the-true-number.html
This Republican propaganda machine on the Obama Administration’s spending is completely and utterly ironic and should have been directed towards what you guys would call “Dubya”.
I prefer to call him “Duped-by-ya”. It just makes more sense to most Americans.
I never really gave a damn what you would prefer to call him. Did you care that I prefer to call Obama by the more descriptive name Boobily? I just love to call people stupid names to illuminate my own superiority. I have done more important things than to have been the President of the United States, and I am sure you have. eh?
This graphic of the relationship between obomacare and employment does a pretty good job of showing how bad obamacare has been for job creation.
This heritage foundation produced graphic shown over at the belmont club shows the reltaionship between Obamacare and employment creation.
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/files/2011/07/wm3316_chart1.ashx_.gif
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