The Lemming Watch

Absolutely Frightening

That’s my view of the president’s Address to Congress (aka the State of the Union Speech).
But my reasons may not be the same as some writers. Here is my take:

One outstanding aspect of the speech is how little Obama said about our enemies and potential enemies. He acts as if there were no terrorists in the world plotting against the country. That is quite scary. And his selections for the critical intelligence positions indicate he doesn’t’ really care about potential enemies.

Almost tied for first place in the category of scary was how he told us, in a glossed over phrasing, How government was going to intrude in our lives in a way never anticipated in the United States. He made strong hints that government will take over the banks and the auto industry. Whether that happens is still up in the air. But he does make it clear that he plans to have government take over health care and intrude into our private health information,  provide cradle-though-college education, and insist on compulsory community service. Granted, these threats are hazy and veiled, but they are there. And given Obama’s record, he will implement them when he sees the opportunity.

But these two features of the speech are relatively benign compared to the most frightening aspect—the not so obvious weakness in the content of the address. This is what should give us concern. The man had so little to say about the state of the union and less to say about what his plans are to improve the state of the union or to govern. As he did in his campaign, he uses wonderful sounding but empty words, well crafted sentences and dynamic delivery with no content. He talks mainly about social programs that add very little to improve the state of the nation. Where’s the beef?

Campaign rhetoric is good for winning elections, but terrible for running the country. But that appears to be what we have going with this man. Here are some of the meaningless or demagogic statements in the speech.

I think the reason he has so little to say about his plans is that he has no real plans; he is winging it. It appears, after a month in office, that he has no clue as to what his job is and, therefore, no idea what must be done. He believed a lot of scaremongers that the country was in dire straits; so he let a dysfunctional, left-wing congress write a package that nominally is supposed to stimulate the economy, but in reality cannot and will not.

And, apparently, his staff and cabinet have little to contribute to his ideas. The makeup of the cabinet and staff are part and parcel of his lack of understanding of his job. He apparently has allowed leftist elements in his party to select and vet these people with little input of his own. And now he is getting precious little from them. Witness the performance of two cabinet members: Hillary Clinton and Timothy Geithner. Her recent trip to Asia has been more negative than positive. Her position has been seriously undercut by other foreign policy staff selections and assignments.

Giethner, in not only a tax evader, but seems, based on his first two meetings with congress, to have no good idea what he must do to solve the economic problem (if indeed anything need be done other than to get out of the way of business). Although he was president of a Federal Reserve Bank, he came ill prepared to present any concept of recovery. Maybe that is because he was part of the problem and can’t see the forest for the forest.

Based on the president’s performance to date, and on his view of the state of the union,  the country is in for some very rough times for the immediate future and, unfortunately, for some worse times in the long term future. Frightening indeed.

Talk About a Hockey Stick!

Most everyone understands now that the IPCC Hockey Stick graph of so-called global warming is phony—the product of bad models, cooked data, improper calculations, and a desire for a specific outcome. But this graph, which looks similar to the hockey stick But is much more dramatic a rise), shows a not-very-desirable picture. It is a graph from The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showing the adjusted monetary base—a measure of the nation’s money supply. Look closely at the right-hand side; hidden in the shading is a very sharp upward spike.

 
This curve is not a phony one generated by bad models and cooked data. It is an actual  measure of what is going on with our money.

And what does this mean? Well, somehow all this money must eventually be accounted for. There are two ways to do this—either tax Americans or allow (encourage) inflation. The taxes to pay down this monster will devolve to us, our grandchildren, and most likely our great-grandchildren. So maybe try inflation?

But inflation is only another way to tax; and it is a terrible tax because it is hidden (you don’t pay the government aportion of your income; you pay higher prices for everything), and it is lop-sided in that those that buy things last in the growing inflation pay much more than those who buy early. And wages and salaries to pay the higher prices always lag the actual inflation.

And those on a pension will suffer even more. Even if it’s indexed, you will not catch up when inflation goes the way it must to resolve this huge monetary spike. Of course all pension money is taxed too, so there is a double taxation there—tax and inflation.

Thank your congressman, your president, and the Fed for this situation.