Free kibbles

TAX AND SPEND:

Democrats blame tea party for budget standoff as if they aren't one of the parties involved. This is going to backfire on them.

The collapse of the US bond market may have begun.

"Total US societal debt may well have reached a tipping point and many investors are wondering when US government bonds will be abandoned. In fact, this process might already be underway. Reuters' Jennifer Ablan reported on March 9 that Bill Gross's $237 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, the largest bond fund in the world, had sold all its US government bonds over the past few months."

But as long as the Fed keeps buying, the pain will be put off. But once the government collapses, we'll have an opportunity to start fresh. But will we?

"In such circumstances, facing a stark new reality, Americans will be forced to look within themselves for guidance. As they do, I believe they will regain their 'can do' attitude and surprise the world with a regenerated spirit and incredible enterprise and entrepreneurship. Gerald Celente, probably the most accurate trends forecaster of our time, predicts an 'American Renaissance.'"

I'm confident this will be the case in the marketplace, but I still don't see a scenario where we abandon our exploding police state, and it's impossible to sustain economic freedom in a police state.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

The consequences of Bernanke's insane money printing:

"In other words, the speculative markets are moving one way. The economy is moving the other. The markets are going up. The economy is going down.Oh…and you can imagine what this does to the poor householder. He’s caught in the middle. The real economy pushes the value of his main asset down…while the feds push up the cost of his most important supplies – food and energy."

This can only end one way:

"It’s going to turn out very, very badly."

Yes it is.

EDUCATION:

School boards fire principles of failing schools only to rehire them at the same salary in positions with different names.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

EU plans to ban all cars from cities by 2050. This might seem like an early April Fool's joke, but I don't think so. I think it's based on this new UN program to target cities for CO2 emissions. Here's an important quote at the bottom of this post:

"An exclusive poll conducted on the first day of our crusade showed an astonishing 99 per cent of people agree [Britain] should quit the European Union."

As one commenter says, it's more likely the people of Europe will ban the EU before the EU bans cars. Surely these fruit loops don't think they'll get away with this.

WAR ON DRUGS:

Great Dilbert.


POLICE STATE:

Australian government attacks man for towing his son behind a helicopter instead of behind a boat while water-skiing.

The government's program of smuggling guns to Mexican drug dealers is a perfect example that government doesn't fight crime. Government creates crime.

WAR:

My goodness, the US government knows how to manipulate puppets. The Libyan rebels have already created a new national, i.e. government owned, i.e. socialist, oil company and central bank. How's that humanitarian mission working out in Libya?

"The day after Gadhafi's regime tried to convince journalists that it was in control of Misrata by taking them on a trip to part of the city -- but not allowing them into the city center -- his troops were killing and wounding civilians and evicting thousands of people from their homes, the witness told CNN."The carnage and the destruction and the human suffering from both the evictions and ... terrorizing the city -- it's beyond imagination," said the witness, an opposition councilman in Misrata, in western Libya. "It's incredible."
Gadhafi forces did not even allow people to take belongings with them from their homes, he added. "They tell them, 'Run for your lives,' and fire bullets just above them.""

Wait. I thought Qaddafi was killing his own people in cold blood. It sounds like they're shooting above their heads, not killing them. Yet the carnage and human suffering continues. It would have been over had western governments not intervened. In a good reminder there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, McCain supports killing Libyans too. On the other hand:

"Laurence, of course one thing would be different: The currently-silent anti-war Democrats would be out in the thousands protesting the Republican McCain’s “right”-wing war on Libya—as they correctly did when Bush started his criminal attacks on the civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan."

Good point. This question exposes at the real purpose of government:

"The war in Libya has cost the Pentagon $550 million so far. And as of Monday, the U.S. had launched 192 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles at a cost of $1 to $1.5 million each. Although I advocate nonintervention, wouldn’t it have been cheaper and easier to bribe a Libyan to take out his leader with a single bullet?"

The ruling class doesn't get any loot that way. All government actions are designed to loot the people and enrich the ruling class. That's why Congress doesn't issue Letters of Marque any more.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Analysis of the unrest in Syria.

POLITICS:

According to Boortz:

"Michelle Bachmann wants a tax code that encourages "family formation" and gives less incentive to being a single parent."

So much for smaller government.

MEDIA:

Media Matters war on Foxnews may violate it's 501(C)(3) status. It seems to me it's always been in violation of that status, but these public statements make it obvious.

MISC:

On race discrimination in the modeling industry. There's also beauty discrimination. It's like they're trying to sell their products by pleasing their customers instead of the agents of political correctness or something. Good looking people tend to be wealthier and happier. Discrimination!

If the Japanese government seizes the stricken nuclear power plant, that will guarantee the worst possible outcome.

Observers recognize that big companies cannot be as nimble as small companies. It's an economic fact of life that bigger organizations are less efficient.

Thomas Sowell summarizes the results of the census: Americans are fleeing liberal states for greater economic freedom elsewhere. Michael Barone notices the same trend. Here's another part of the picture: Caterpillar considers moving out of Illinois to lower the burden of government on the company so it can be more competitive.

It turns out the claim that Chinese will soon overtake the US in science is really a claim that the Chinese will overtake the US in science papers. It's still significant, but it doesn't have any qualitative measure.