Same Old Song & Dance

Today I read this brilliant column and it encapsulated perfectly what I've been saying & thinking for months: this administration is using the financial crisis to make the social and governmental changes it wants by blaming the whole thing on Bush and saying their way is only undoing the wrong done by the previous administration.  I call B.S.

[Nolanbuck's note - Most of you know where I stand politically, but for those who may not, I am a social conservative and a classical liberal in most other matters, including economics (which is not to be confused with modern liberalism, which is not true liberalism but rather progressivism...but I disgress.) I am a member of the Republican Party who has become increasingly disenchanted as the GOP turns out more & more to be "Democrat light".]
Everything that Mr. Obama has tried so far or proposed has been tried before, with mostly poor results. All of this "hope & change" is fancy wrapping for tired old progressivist ideas that didn't work in the previous century, and won't work in this one. Economic "stimulus" is creating a false recovery that has included a drastically weakened dollar and increasing unemployment, all of which will (if history is any indicator) lead to a second downturn in the economy in the coming months and years that I fear will be deeper than the first (see the late 1930's "second crash"). Regulation and government involvement in business during the 50's & 60's caused the stagnant economy of the 70's (also see the 90's in Japan, the so-called "lost decade").  This is nothing new, and most of the old ideas are the bad ones.
True laissez-faire, free-market policies will produce prosperity every time in the long run. Every.  Time.  I will grant you, free market capitalism is a dangerous beast sometimes, it can buck and thrash wildly on occasion and some companies and people will get hurt economically. But I will posit that many (if not all) of the undulations of the market are caused by our meddling and not by the market itself. And yes, corrupt businesses and people will taint the system and cause it to falter, but that is not the fault of the market, but of those unscrupulous few who would spike it for political or economic gain. In short, I am not pro-business, or even anti-government, but staunchly pro-market.
And I want to tear my hair out when the neo-con "borrow and spend" policies of the Bush administration are called free market or conservative ideals. Bush was not a conservative in the truest sense, he was a neo-con. Neo-cons began as liberals who abandoned the Democratic party in the 50s & 60s due to it's left turn on social issues. I was against Bush's spending and borrowing, his ridiculous immigrant amnesty bill, and a host of other things. The true conservatives biggest mistake was not loudly criticizing Bush when we disagreed, for fear of weakning the GOP's grip on power. Well, we let Bush crap the bed and the progressives now run the government, so in that we failed utterly. Lesson learned.

Nolanbuck

Building a Better Monster

The end of the U.S. dollar as the world's go-to currency began this year, as world banks put 63% of their cash in Euros and Yen over the summer, a stunning reversal from all of recent history.  With the Fed printing greenbacks like monopoly money to pay for the Obama administration's many spending programs that we can't afford, and low interest rates depressing the greenback's value, Fed chairman Bernake has killed the "meltdown" monster by creating a bigger one, making our dollar worthless to comsumers and foreign investors alike.

The problem is, we are paying off the massive debts incurred by Bush and Obama with dollars...dollars that are dropping in value, and foreign banks can't afford to overextend their dependence on the sagging greenback.  But raising interest rates and slowing the printing of money to strengthen the dollar will slow down any economic growth we may be producing and extend our recession.

This, ladies & gents, is why you cannot fix a recession or depression with government spending.  The governemnt can't afford this rampant spending that seems to be mainly going to Democrat-aligned groups like unions and the indigent (so much for "shovel-ready" projects).  And the spending hurts our currency's value, and leaves the government in an ever-increasing portion of our lives.

And Congress is about to stick us with paying for a disaster of a healthcare bill,and even a second stimulus bill.  Hang on to your wallets, folks.

Nolanbuck

We Come In Peace?

Our President has won the Nobel Peace Prize today, in what was a shock to everyone including POTUS himself.  Mr. Obama said in a speech today that he would accept the Prize as a "call to action".  I'm sorry, but isn't that the political equivalent of giving trophies to every kid in little league whether they won a game or not?  Whether you like the President's policies or not, you'll have to admit he hasn't done much yet, he hasn't had time to do much, even he said so.

Furthermore, in a cruel twist of irony, this award was bestowed upon our Prez of Peace the very same morning that he unleashed a brutal and unprovoked attack on our nearest celestial neighbor and constant companion, the moon.  Yes!  On the same day he was hailed as the bringer of peace, NASA rammed a "kinetic bomb" into the south pole of the moon, knocking off enough green cheese to supply salad bars the world over for years.  No comment from the little green men on this unjust assault.

Seriously though, I guess our President is as deserving of the Peace Prize as anyone else in the running this year, I'm sure he's in favor of peace, even if he's done little to achieve it anywhere so far.  I'm happy for Mr. Obama, for whatever the prize is worth...now that he shares it with the a peanut farmer, the guy who invented the internet, and the butcher of Palestine.

Nolanbuck

Crazy People

(Nolanbuck's note: since I started using Blogger.com's new posting format, I inadvertenly saved a couple of posts as drafts without publishing them.  Here's one)

I posted this vid on my Facebook awhile back, saying this is where jazz harmony came from.  I stand by that statement.  Even if this music isn't your cup of tea, the end of the song will impress you.



Those are the Boswell sisters, from the year19 and 32.  The owner of those magnificent pipes seated on our left is Connee Boswell, who went on to have a successful solo career after her sisters Martha and Vet called it quits.  She credits the legendary Mamie Smith as her earliest influence (and it shows), and Connee herself went on to be a huge influence on one Ella Fitzgerald (maybe you've heard of her).

And as if her talent and showmanship weren't impressive enough, our little songbird Connee there...she was a parapalegic from childhood, she always performed from a wheelchair or seated.  Now that's moxy.  Anyway, as you can tell, my tastes in music can be somewhat ecclectic.  Check out more of Conne and her sisters on YouTube.

Nolanbuck

Make Mine Freedom

Sometimes, even cartoons get it right.



The world has changed since this cartoon was produced, but the facts remain the same.

Nolanbuck

No Obamalympics for Chicago

Despite reports of Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid being a "done deal" (being that it's Chicago we're talking about here, the pun is intended), not even Mr. Obama's last minute push was enough to win the Olympics for the USA.

I was not particularly against the President going to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics, but the timing (what with the raging healthcare debate at home, a partically nuclear Iran thumbing their noses at us, and thing rapidly falling apart in Afghanistan) was inconvenient at best.  Leave alone the fact thatChicago politics is famous for being rife with corruption (this Olympic bid being no exception) and that some of Obama's shadier friends (*cough* Tony Rezko *cough*) were rumored to stand to make bazillions in new Olympic construction contracts.

But the fact that Mr. Obama staked his brand on this Olmypic bid, put his name on it, only to be eliminated in the first round of voting, is a hugely embarrassing blow to this Presidency, no matter how the media will try to spin it.  This President, the one the world fawned over last year as "their" candidate, could not even get his own hometown into the final vote for the Olympics in 2016.  Had this happened to George Bush, one could say, "Well, they hate his guts."  But the 1st President of the World?  Not even a finalist?  Unthinkable.

Could this be the turning point, in a year where our President's frenetic policies have looked like they were though out by an ADHD kid who's run out of Ritalin, that defines a Presidency full of good intentions and high ideals, along with bad ideas and failed deliveries (shades of Jimmy Carter)?  Could the epic fail of what was to be the crown jewel of Obama's 2016 "victory lap" put a bow on what will be a 4 year odyessy of ego-bruising falls for this administration?

We'll see, but at least he can claim how much money he saved our country in these hard economic times by allowing Rio de Janeiro to have the games.  Wotta guy!

Nolanbuck