On..."Earned Success"

A few articles to share. It's been a while.

First Michael Barone ties together a number of ideas to formulate an idea that is overall pretty basic but is often ignored.
Barone writes

• They want public policies that enable them to earn success, and they resent policies that channel money to the politically well positioned or to those who have not made decisions and taken actions necessary for earned success. They want to be empowered, not patronized.

• (Walter Russell) Mead makes an even stronger point when he writes that "for large numbers of voters, the professional classes who staff the bureaucracies, foundations and policy institutes in and around government are themselves a special interest." One, he adds, that acts "only to protect their turf and fatten their purses."

Americans Want the Honor of "Earned Success"

The Tea Party's rise and success has been linked to both of these points, but especially the second one. Government has become a massive special interest and for those on the outside-looking-in resentment has been growing for some time. Continually throughout US history the people have rebelled from what they deemed an unnatural growth (and abuse) of power consolidated in one group's hands i.e. slave holders, Gilded Age capitalists, urban political machines. In all three cases, the federal government was strengthened to destroy (slave holders) or reduce (capitalists, political bosses) these power grabs. Now, the very monster they created to protect the republic is now seen by a growing minority to be the threat to the republic.

If there is one person who needs to be read it's Walter Russell Mead. His last few blog posts have been awesome, especially

The Writing on the Wall

It perhaps is the best long essay I've read all year.

His latest American Tinderbox is also very interesting.

On... Sipping Gas in the Faculty Lounge

Victor Davis Hanson presents some interesting points about Obama and his administration in regards to the high price of gas and their disconnect with middle-class reality. He doesn't include it, but I also think they've drunk from the Tom Friedman school of economics: only super high gas prices will force us off the teat of foreign oil. They never say this too strongly in public, but you only need to connect the dots.

Obama, Gas Prices & the Faculty Lounge

On...Ceilings of Debt

Shouldn't it be a basement of debt? Anyway, this graph is pretty amazing, and scary and I don't know what we're going to do. Where in the hell is all this money going? I think we could have filled the Grand Canyon by now.

NationalJournal.com - GRAPHIC: 10 Years, 10 Broken U.S. Debt Ceilings - Wednesday, April 13, 2011

On...Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - ...

Really neat. The 4 minutes fly by.

On...Blind Men ignoring the masses

Jonah Goldberg and Charles Krauthammer are very succinct in breaking down the real problems of our present administration. Sadly, the Left is blind to it. Again I hope the GOP shapes up and doesn't run the victory into the ground come next term.

Jonah Goldberg in the National Review
Dorsal Fins Surround White House

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post
The Last Refuge of the Liberal

On...Retirement Savings

My good friend Jeff was just on FOX 2 here in Detroit talking about retirement plans. Check it out below.

On...The Michigan Way

Two Governors and a Failed Idea

For those of us who live in Michigan this article in the Wall Street Journal is depressing. Sure the true believers (in Gov. Granholm, all twelve of them) will deny it and say the numbers are wrong and check back in 10 years, etc. Others will ignore it. But many will shake their heads and know deep down that this is what they feared. Michigan and its 15% unemployment, which would be even higher if people weren't allowed to leave, is becoming the New Mississippi. Progressives don't understand basic economic principles and refuse to learn them. Instead they role out big government (even on the state level) and expect miracle cures. It simply doesn't work that way. Yes, organized government can solve some problems on a small scale, but the marketplace is not one of them. But they'll keep trying.

Anyway, the article is HERE: Michigan Subsidies Fail

I found the movie subsidy aspect disappointing. I thought maybe that was a good idea initially. See, even I can get suckered it from time to time.

On...The Only Question That Needs to be Answered (Especially by Obama Voters)

Robert Samuelson at Newsweek has been writing some of the most profound short-length essays about the economy the last nine months or so. I have posted many of them. I think what makes them strong is his total lack of agenda beyond a sound economy. He has acted like one of the few level two thinkers out there. He poses questions without getting partisan or angry. He's not a Paul Krugman who clearly has an agenda and blathers it out to everyone who will hear. And he's not a Republican hammering away at the President and Congress for purely politically reasons. Instead he gathers the data, looks towards the future, and asks the hard questions Americans of all stripes wish to avoid.

His latest essay poses the one question every American must answer and I hope everyone who voted for Obama will seriously ask themselves and then answer the tough follow up questions.

That question is How big a government do we want?

On the surface this is clearly a level one question, but it really is a reflective one when you take the time to break it down. This was really the question people should have been asking themselves going into the voter's booth last November. And then the second question is how do we pay for an expanded government flush with even more entitlements. USA Today had a series of polls regarding Health Care and low and behold it found the majority of Americans want better health care but don't want to pay for it.

Right there is a big problem that has been plaguing the Republic for some time. Too many people believe they are entitled to stuff on someone elses dime. As Samuelson states, "We face an unprecedented collision between Americans' desire for more government services and their almost-equal unwillingness to be taxed." Something has to give. Our president, the Democrats, and too many Republicans in Congress seem to want it all. This isn't practical or realistic. Though it is how many get elected. Unfortunately someone always has to pay and the Democrats' old song and dance about the rich paying only works for so long. The middle-class will have to pay as well down the road. And then free people will find ways around tyranny. They will even move with their feet if they have to.

So I ask merely for all the Obama voters out there to read Samuelson's article and reflect on the only question and then for them to formulate a real answer--not merely a level one response but also on the consequences of an expanding Federal Government today and in the future. Unfortunately I don't think anyone will step up to the plate.

Big decisions need to be made. I only hope they are the right ones.

On...Worry

Plenty of stuff to pick from but...

Shouldn't we all be a tad worried about this number?

$68.3 TRILLION

I mean, wow. We are amazingly nonchalant about all this debt.

AND we want to add to this pile.

As much as people lambasted Bush for a spending spree (and rightly so) we elected a guy and a Congress who are going to make Bush look like a small time crook compared to the heist that's coming.

On...GM, The Future, and Michigan's Great Depression

I would say this article [Big Three Confront Rough Road] on the future of the Auto Industry by the Detroit News is a must read, especially for those who live in Michigan. The authors ask a lot of important questions that I hope the folks in DC are asking themselves and trying to get the answers to. Unfortunately, I think they are ignoring too many of them.

Addition:

Richard A. Posner in Atlantic Monthly has another fine blog piece on GM and Government Take Over. You can find it HERE

On...I'm A Believer

Seeing the Light

Has David Brooks finally seen the light? Or has he merely opened the curtains a smudge? Now the light I speak of is not *THOCATCOH. I think he started to spray a bit of that on himself last November, but I think the bottle is now used up. I can't believe he's really abandoned his Centrist Eden, but I do believe he knows no matter how he talks it up Obama is not a centrist outside of teleprompter speeches. He's a Chicago-style socialist with a smile. That or he's a man who believes in the hope of fairytales. [See North Korea/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Iran/Israel for deeping Foreign Policy ogres.]

Brooks realizes that if all these programs go through and they areonly half as disastrous as they appear to be, he will never see the centrist changes he longs for be a reality.

At least now he can hammer away like Krauthammer. Too bad they don't reach more of the silent (or deaf) majority.

* The Hope Of Change And The Change of Hope

On...Living in Disney Land

This is so fitting.

I doubt this bill by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has a chance to become law, but it is so fitting when it comes to 2 things: 1) parochalism and 2) Liberal Fantasy. And there is no better place for this politician to have an A-HA! moment. The most magical place on earth. MAGICAL as in it does not and will not exist.

SEE ARTICLE HERE

The idea that all Americans can be kings is so Soft America that I could scream if I wasn't too busy laughing. Wonderful good intentions, that defines the Democrats (and too many W Republicans). Wouldn't paid vacation, manditory by the Federal Government be fantastic? Of course it would. Why do we have to really try at all? But where does it end? Why can't an owner (property rights anyone?) make their own decisions and their workers can work there or not? Has anyone checked out France's labor-policies lately? 30 days paid vacation a year? What are they all? Teachers? (Ah, sweet irony) I know we are not France yet but give it time. Give it time.

And I love the "It will stimulate the economy" bit everyone is using these days. It is so self-serving.

I love this country. Everything that made this nation the greatest in the world is being undermined by the Good Intention Brigade who always ignore the Cult of Unintended Consequences.

From...Why Government Can't Run a Business

I've linked a new editorial from John Steele Gordon, a very keen economic historian who've I featured here before. He gives a very tight rundown on why Government and Business operations always fail in the long run. I would love to revisit this piece say ten or twenty years from now and see how GM or Chrysler are doing. It is amazing how people are so afraid of things doing what they are designed to do (The Market that is). His point about politicians & headlines is very strong. "We must do something!" "They want to do nothing!" "How dare they!"

WHY GOVERNMENT CAN'T RUN A BUSINESS

ON...Stuff in General

What a world

I've been a bit busy lately preparing my students for the big AP US History test tomorrow so I haven't had much time to post. Here are a bunch of articles that I thought interesting the last day or so.

The first is a follow up of my BLOG on Jon Stewart. It's nice to see that he commented later on his mistake. See HERE

The second is from Slate in regards to The Case for Colorblindness

The third is a trio about the foolishness of the UAW/GOV take over of dying Chrysler from The Economist, George Will, and Michael Barone. All sound minds.

The Economist: Mismanaging the Collapse
Sunbeams from Cucumbers by G Will
White House puts UAW before Property Rights by M Barone

The fourth is by Newsweek's David Ignatius on The Baby Boomers, The Whining Will get Louder (My Title) Good Stuff.

The Fifth is by Victor Davis Hanson on our modern obsession with Having it Both Ways.

From...Slate: Incredible Shrinking Job Market

Great Link from SLATE.COM

Interactive Map of the USA showing job growth/loss in every county nationwide for the last 2 years. The map made me think of nuclear hits.

On...Nukes, Exageration, and TARP

For your daily consumption

Anne Applebaum from Slate.com on "Obama's Odd Obsession with Universal Nuclear Disarmament."

John Dickerson also from Slate.com on "The Careful Exaggerator."

And

Investor's Business Daily on more of why Obama and Geithner won't accept TARP money back.

And is it me or does every other day Obama have a new challenge or topic on how to save the world? Who is this guy? Does hubris mean anything to him? He has to know he can't accomplish half this stuff. He was elected President of the USA not President/Celebrity of the Planet Earth with magical powers.

On...News Weekly's 2 Big Stories

Mainstream Essays

Time and Newsweek in the past few weeks have had large essays regarding two relevant issues. From Time we get author/journalist Kurt Anderson on The End of Excess and from Newsweek we get historian Jon Meacham on The End of Christian America. I believe both titles are a little misleading, but each have plenty to chew over--some good, some off-the-mark a bit, and some great for debate.

Many of you may find them interesting. If I get time I would like to revisit them in length.

On...Various Stuff about our POTUS

Take these as you will.

I always want our nation to be successful and this goes for our President, but I wish him success if he handles things differently. For one I think he is too staged. I don't think he can handle a real back and forth with lots of curveballs [SEE the UK paper The GUARDIAN]. There will be events he can't prepare for, sit down and think about and sleep on. Professors are rarely generals. Especially when you must face down Russians, Koreans, and Persians.

Also I have real suspicion when it comes to his motives domestically. (Even beyond Socialism) It is beginning to seem that he desires real power as much as W but in a very different way. Not everyone has come down from Cloud 9 yet but I think they will see how much he is expanding presidential power to unheard of heights. He definitely sees power as something to use and he is just getting warmed up. [SEE WSJ and another Brit's take on power grabs] I don't think he understands business. He sees it as an outsider. He sees the possibilities and positives of capitalism, but he doesn't really grasp how it works and why it works. He's like a kid who finds this great toy but uses it all wrong then breaks it.

And lastly we'll see how Obama handles North Korea. This area I'm most concerned, not about our civil liberties, but our reputation for strength in the world. There will be one rookie mistake (beyond missile shields removal for peace) at least. I'd rather see it with NK than with Iran or Russia.

KOREAN ROCKET
Kim Jong-iL's Gamble
The Guardians Take on Historical Irony

On...The Real Car Czar

Expansion of Presidential Powers: It is only beginning

We are starting to see the power the White House will wield. Be warned any person coming hat in hand to 1600 PA Ave. You leave without your hat.

GM is only the beginning. I think the people of Michigan are starting to long for W when it comes to the auto industry. Now that's scary stuff.

What and the hell does Obama know about a car-company? This is the typical elitist attitude. They know everything about everything and their Smart Team can pull purple rabbits out of hardhats all friggin' day. Making rash decisions are going to bite you. The White House now owns General Motors. If not in reality then in public perception. If GM fails now Obama will bear most of the onus in the public's eyes. He's responsible. Since when should the POTUS be worrying about a CAR COMPANY! in a 14 Trillion dollar economy. I just don't know about this. He can act all calm and high-almighty but he's in the whirlwind now. Way to deflect the AIG boondoggle by pushing Detroit off the Ambassador Bridge.

The DETROIT NEWS editorial on Wagoner's Ousting is very good and raises a bunch of questions.

MI Governor Granholm calls Wagoner a "Sacrificial Lamb." How true.

Does anyone else smell the return of Jimmy Carter? I really hope not.

On...Economic History...Are We On the Right Route?

Contradictions

Economic Historian and author of the great book An Empire of Wealth recently wrote an article for Commentary. John Steele Gordon gives a brief rundown of US economic activity, mainly regarding the Democratic Party (see his book for more info) and what new Dem President Obama's plan may or may not produce. Food for thought.

See HERE.