Camrade Obama

From TJIC

Whats wrong with these pictures from Obama's Houston office? Hmm. Could it be the Cuban flags with the murdering communist Che on them? Maybe Hilary is the more moderate one of the two. Scary.

The Right to Healthcare

I was eating lunch today when I saw Hillbillery Clinton telling her hordes that health care was a human right. Right, like speech and assembly huh. What a freaking idiot. As Coyote says a right is anything you can have on a deserted island. I'm pretty sure a doctor is not on that list. And just to clarify by guaranteeing everyone health care you are saying that you're ok getting marginal quality health care, waiting lines and all.
There is a certain supply of doctors. A government mandate socializing health care will not magically increase that supply. Why do doctors charge so much? Because they can. If we didn't get sick as often they would have less demand and would necessarily decrease their rates.
If you really want to cut down health care costs the best thing the government could do is make low deductible health insurance plans illegal. When was the last time you asked how much a doctor visit would cost? I can answer that for you. Never. You only ask what your copay or deductible will be. If people had to pay the first 5 or 10 thousand out of pocket they would think twice before going in every time they had a cold. Therefore less demand on doctors leads to reduced rates.

Go Big Oil

I read today that Exxon won an order freezing 36 billion dollars worth of Venezuela's state oil assets. To put that in perspective Exxon's annual net income for last year was 40 billion. Maybe after they get their money back Exxon can bring criminal charges in a Venezuelan court against Hugo for grand theft? That would be awesome. Stick it to the commies Exxon!

Tax Cuts

I have a couple of thoughts on the tax cut proposals being made by the presidential candidates. First is if you want to do any major tax cuts they have to reduce taxes on the "rich". Why is that? Because they are the ones that pay the most taxes. When you think of all the phased out credits and deductions and the "progressive" tax rates they pay way more than the middle class.
My second thought is that if you want to put in place any permanent tax cut you must also cut spending. Contrary to Congess' belief you cant consistently spend more than you make. Novel concept I know. I would try to explain if further but if you cant grasp that concept perhaps you should run for congress.

Sub Prime Predictions

With all of these write down by banks for their "subprime" loans I thought I would make a prediction. My prediction is that over the next few quarters banks earnings will do pretty well. Think of it this way. You're a new CEO taking over for a previous CEO who has just stepped down for failing to recognize the risks of sub prime loans. The smart play if you are the new CEO is to write down as much as you can this quarter because all of the bad performance will be blamed on your predecessor. That way over the next couple of quarters you can bring in some of the excess write offs into income. Now I'm sure there are write downs that need to occur but the new CEO's definitely have motivation to be as "conservative" as possible.

Food for Thought

I found this via http://tjic.com.

"The simple fact is that non-violent means do not work against Evil. Gandhi's non-violent resistance against the British occupiers had some effect because Britain was wrong, but not Evil. The same is true of the success of non-violent civil rights resistance against de jure racism. Most people, including those in power, knew that what was being done was wrong. But Evil is an entirely different beast. Gandhi would have gone to the ovens had he attempted non-violent resistance against the Nazis. When one encounters Evil, the only solution is violence, actual or threatened. That's all Evil understands."
-- Robert Bruce Thompson

Lame Elections and Immigration

Is anyone else out there having a hard time being excited about the presidential election? I just cant seem to find any candidate who I really want to get behind. I like some of Ron Paul's economic ideas but cant stand his immigration policy. ALL candidates pretend to be pro market. "Get government out of business" they say. Well according to my memory of economics there are three main factors of production; land, LABOR, and capital. If you are really in favor of a free market you believe in the free flow of labor and that the "invisible hand" will allocate it efficiently. Guess what, if you put up restrictions on immigration you are restricting labor. Therefore if you are anti immigration you are not "pro market" or what ever other buzz word you want to use. So Mitt Ron Rudy quit saying you are what you are not. I'll let John off the hook on this one but just barely.