Free kibbles

TAX AND SPEND:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to fine Chicago residents into oblivion. He's masterfully using the divide and conquer strategy to gain support.

Italian PM loses confidence vote as government debt yields rise.

FEDERAL RESERVE:

Remember when payday loans were a bad thing and governments had to regulate payday loan businesses out of business? The local paper accidentally explains what was really going on:

"Banks in Ohio have been filling the gap left by payday loan shops, which were nearly driven out of the state in 2008 when lawmakers capped the interest rates they charged."

This legislation was pushed by bankers because the payday loan places were taking business they wanted, but they didn't want to have to charge a fair market price to compete. And these banks are charging more than the payday loan companies did. We know that because if banks were charging less, they would have taken the business without legislation.

"Fifth Third charges a dollar for every $10 borrowed or the equivalent of a 120 percent annualized interest rate on a one-month loan, Stevenson said.That’s similar to the terms of most other banks in the area that offer short-term loans."

That's way more than the payday loan companies charged. They charged flat fees. It was robbery when the payday loan companies did it. Now it's a valuable service. I have a feeling somebody is going to get in trouble over this article.

HEALTH CARE:

Appeals court cites previous tyrannical government rulings in support of Obamacare's individual mandate.

""It certainly is an encroachment on individual liberty, but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race ... or that a farmer cannot grow enough wheat to support his own family," wrote Judge Laurence Silberman in the majority opinion, citing past federal mandates that inspired legal fights."

In other words, the Constitution doesn't matter. All that matters is what the men in robes say matters. This is why the American people will regret giving Obama the power to assassinate Americans on his own authority. You can't put the cat back in the bag.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Sometimes government creates such incredibly stupid situations, that the resulting incredibly stupid action is just hilarious. In this case, the Chinese government is threatening to release a large amount of HFC's, gases incorrectly blamed for creating hole in the ozone, into the atmosphere if negotiators get rid of the bogus HFC trading scheme.

POLITICS:

One way to look at the left's anti-capitalism is they don't want to work. They want to take money from other people by force. Then again, that's how the bankers, CEOs and the super-rich do it too. Government exists for the sole purpose of taking money from others so the rulers and their cronies don't have to do the hard work of producing wealth in a system of voluntary exchange.

Ron Paul possibly a kingmaker.

Penn State is using this recent child molestation scandal to oust Joe Paterno even though Paterno had nothing to do with it and did nothing wrong. It's pretty obvious the bigwigs at Penn State have wanted Paterno gone for a while, but he wouldn't retire. Now they're going to force him out.

Bill O'Reilly gives Ron Paul a pretty fair interview.

Bill Clinton wants to run for a third term. I want to see him run a ditch digging business and see if he can succeed.

LOCAL:

There's a lot of local levies and a couple of major state-wide votes going on today. Here's a snapshot of the Dayton Daily News via Google:

"Little Miami levy passing by slim margin"
"Voters narrowly approve Lebanon school levy"
"Incumbents holding their own against challengers in Lebanon board race"

You notice a common thread? Lebanon isn't even a suburb of Dayton. It has its own newspaper. Unfortunately it looks like the people overturned the legislation limiting government unions from stealing more from us. On the plus side, they passed a constitutional amendment blocking Obamacare. This is an interesting mixed bag. These two issues were linked: the people supporting one supported both, and the people against one were against both. Yet one passed by pretty much the same margin as the other failed. That hints to me the confusing language of issue two confused enough people to make it pass. Anybody looking for insight into which way Ohio will go in 2012 learned nothing.