Free kibbles

ECONOMY:

How private equity firms like Bain Capital boost the economy by making resources work to create wealth instead of squander it. Unfortunately, private equity funding is drying up, meaning there's not as much wealth to rescue poorly allocated resources and put them to more productive use.

Criticism of the liquidity trap explanation for the recession.

The unfortunate truth about our economy.

"You can’t hide a flood but you can hide a financial implosion. The financial day of Armageddon occurred some time in the recent past and it is government’s job to keep the suicide rate down and to calm the masses and act like everything is normal. The goal is to keep the women shopping. The Super Bowl serves as an excellent distraction. It’s just a temporary recession, right? No, it’s the financial collapse of modern civilization and it is being papered over. If you blinked your eyes, you probably missed it. But then you probably sleep better than I do."

The collapse has already happened. Most people just haven't realized it yet.

TAX AND SPEND:

Japanese debt passes out of the trillions into the quadrillions. 16 digits. Stop the insanity.

The Tax Foundation analyzes President Obama's proposed alternative minimum tax for millionaires.

"On a very static basis, we roughly estimate that this policy would raise $40 billion, assuming that taxpayers don't change their behavior.  Compared to a $1.1 trillion deficit next year this is a drop in the bucket."

This would make Americans suffer the highest tax rate on dividend income in the western world, which means savings would be punished more here than anywhere in the world. Savings drives economic growth. Obama's plan isn't about raising revenue or balancing the budget. It's about class warfare and collapsing our economy under the burden of government.

Cato busts Obama for lying about corporate taxes in his State of the Union speech.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY:

Global temperatures plummeting. Yikes. I've been saying this winter was going to become bad. It hasn't yet, but it might be coming soon.

Strong hurricanes have been less frequent in the last 150 years than in the previous 600. Another claim by the frauds refuted.

This is a great title for an article: Obama's Green Robber Barons. It's a very accurate analogy except for one thing: the railroads were useful. Green energy is a boondoggle.

Obama's EPA likely to regulate mud puddles in forestry operations.

POLICE STATE:

Why do we need a law to make jailbreaking electronics legal? Shouldn't it be legal by default?

Video proves police lied when they claimed Rand Paul was irate during his detention by the TSA.

POLITICS:

Obama's destructive vision for America.

"Two words hardly mentioned in Barack Obama’s 65-minute State of the Union address to Congress: freedom and liberty. President Obama’s fourth and possibly last State of the Union speech was long on big government proposals, but short on the principles that have made America the world’s greatest power. His lecturing tone exuded arrogance, and he failed to present a coherent vision for getting the United States back on its feet after three years of economic decline. It was heavy on class-war rhetoric, punitive taxation, and frequent references to the Left-wing mantra of “fairness”, hardly likely to instil confidence in a battered business community that is the lifeblood of the American economy.

...
This should have been a serious speech addressing the economic problems facing the United States. Instead it was a laundry list of half-baked proposals designed to appease the Left. The president should have been talking about reining in spending, lowering taxes, and fostering greater economic freedom, but he opted for policies that will speed America’s decline, not reverse it."

This from a Brit.

MEDIA:

Press freedom in the US, already low, plummets.