Missed the Debate

But I understand Romney wins in the press.

Cain is getting some scrutiny which he really should be ready for…..is he? Based on media reports no, but again, I didn’t see the debate. I did write him yesterday about his Ubeckibecki comment. (It was torturous and COULD have led him back to the economy if he’d have let it. We dissed Uzbeckistan while using their land for a base in our war. By berating them for something that didn’t happen except in the press they ended our leases and we had to spend more money. The economy, it’s all over the place.)

It must be Friday, because things are funny

via the Barack Obama campaign via Hot Air. Bold is mine.

Obama for America is seeking poster submissions from artists across the country illustrating why we support President Obama’s plan to create jobs now, and why we’ll re-elect him to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years……..When you submit your design, please include the title of your poster, a short paragraph about it, and your name as you’d like it to appear. All submissions will become the property of Obama for America.

He must think that customers create jobs and since he’s a customer……..

And from facebook via Morgan.

Someone else respond-please

I just can’t stand it, I just can’t stand it.
Concerning “where do jobs come from”. The answer is apparently not from people with ideas for things that hopefully have value for others. Nope, its’ from either requirements of government or from poor people.

From Representative Ellison:

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) tells MSNBC regulations create jobs because a business will have to hire people to help them comply with the new requirement.

“I think the answer is no,” Ellison said when asked if he believes regulations kill jobs. “And here is why: When we talked about increasing fuel efficiency standards, the industry responded, and they need engineers and designers and manufacturers, and they need actually more people to help respond to the new requirement.”

“I believe if the government says, look, we have got to reduce our carbon footprint, you will kick into gear a whole number of people that know how to do that or have ideas about that, and that will be a job engine. I understand what you mean, because if anything adds a cost to a business, you could assume that that will diminish that business’s ability to hire. But I don’t think that’s actually right. I think what businesses want is customers and what — if they are selling product, if they have a product to sell they will do well even if they have some new regulations to meet,” the Congressman said.

But we’re not done.
This is from my local paper…..I’m going to remove the writer’s name because really – how much shame can one man handle?

Consumers, not employers, are the job creators.

There’s a lot of interest in helping “job creators” in these difficult economic times, but many people misunderstand who the job creators are. Employers don’t create jobs. Customers create jobs.

Employers only hire people when it is the only way they can meet the demand for their products or services. It’s the customers who really create the jobs with their purchases.

So how can we quickly increase customer demand for products and services? Economists understand that spreading money around won’t create jobs unless people spend the money. Saving it doesn’t help.

Now if you give money to the poor, they will spend it almost immediately, because they are in desperate need of many things they haven’t been able to afford. This stimulates employments, and then the previously unemployed quickly spend their new income for the same reason, and that creates more jobs, and son on, and the economy recovers.

But if you give money to the rich, who usually have more money already than they choose to spend, little will be spent in the near future with most of it ending up in a savings account or stocks and bonds, which will do nothing to create jobs in the near term when jobs are needed.

Now, this is silly, but if you were to tax the rich and drop the money from airplanes over poor neighborhoods, that would really boost demand, jobs and the economy. But of course there are better ways to distribute the money to those who need it and will spend it.

The point is, long-term policies asice, the quickest solution to an economic recession is to transfer money from the rich to the poor, and that will ultimately benefit everyone, possibly even the rich. We just need to use a rational process for doing it.

As they say at Threesources

Hoss!
Rep. Darrell Issa

Herman Cain

The interesting thing about Herman Cain is how he has slowly risen up the ranks as people hear him.

Who else has worked that way? Perry? Bachman? Paul? Nope. The more you hear from them, the less you like them. Cain? Just the opposite.

And now he is polling even with Romney and in spite of all the news stories that start off “should Cain be taken seriously?”. The results are “no”.
Why is that?

It’s still unlikely Cain will get the nomination. Romney’s had nothing to do except run for president since losing the GOP nod to John McCain four years ago, and has a formidable campaign machine in place. By contrast, Cain is a gifted amateur, taking advantage of his sudden national prominence to speak his piece and hope for the best — perhaps a nod as Mitt’s veep.

Turns out its because of money. Romney has it, Cain doesn’t. Well, that’s all well and good, but from what I understand elections hinge on votes. Romney can’t buy votes, he can only make himself more heard with his money. But the more people hear of him, the more they like “anyone but Romney” and Cain swoops in with his good humor and common sense.

Even columns about the Tea Party like to make tea partiers into such conservative right wingers that it’s assumed Perry is the tea party candidate.

Now, barring some wild twist of fate, there are two men standing: Mitt Romney, the methodical, thrill-free, ideologically elastic technocrat from Massachusetts, who has made himself the default nominee; and the last hope of the hard core, the Not Mitt: Rick Perry.

Then there is this article about folks who want anyone but Romney. Cain isn’t even mentioned until the inside page of this front page article. Here is the lede. Later is the conclusion that Cain isn’t really even running, just selling books.

There is a key bloc of Republican voters whose ambivalence has turned the GOP nomination contest into an erratic mix of roller-coaster ride and dating game. They flirted with Donald Trump and then embraced Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) before jumping on and off the Rick Perry bandwagon. At different times they yearned for Govs. Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Chris Christie of New Jersey and, always, some have cast a longing eye in the direction of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

In the meantime, Cain is actually talking about the news of the day while the “real” candidates just spout platitudes.

[for a laugh today spend a few minutes watching this video of an Occupy Wall Street group in Atlanta where Congressman John Lewis came to speak. You'll have to watch to see the 1984 freakiness, but all in all the "group" voted to not let John Lewis speak until after their agenda had been completed. They voted without actually knowing whether Mr. Lewis could speak later or not. No consensus, no speech for you.]

And the occupy wallstreeters? Let’s see who the WAPO decided to talk to.

1) Brenda Barnes – a 67 year old ex protester who is worried about Social Security and her retirement savings. I’m not sure what her fix is. But her protest is that the government is broke and who can trust the stock market. So I would guess she wants the government to spend less so the stock market can stabilize…right? In the meantime she’s thinking of moving to England where things are better.

Yes, she has time to attend because she is retired and on social security at 67.

2) The president of the ALF-CIO who is there to help.
and
3) Buddy Bolton who was laid off 2 years ago from a movie production company who moved it’s operation to Canada.

olton, 43, had been laid off two years earlier after his production company moved its operations to Canada, and he thinks he has sent out more than a thousand résumés in the years since. “Not one serious bite,” he said. In the meantime, he had spent his savings on elective shoulder surgery, lost his apartment in New York and moved in with his girlfriend. The night before, she had decided to kick him out. I’ll let him speak.

“It was either come here or go live with my mom down in Florida,” he said. “Pretty great options, huh?”

He was not an anarchist, not a 9/11 denier, not a hippie, not a pacifist, not a poet of the revolution. He did not even consider himself to be an activist. But he was desperate and out of options.

In the old days when people were out of work, they’d go find work. North Dakota has 3% unemployment yet apparently Buddy’s only option is to protest Wall Street because…..?…….or go live with his mom at 43 years old.

Herman is right.

Two “One Page Books”

One on how to get out of debt and one on how to lose weight.

Getting out of debt

Losing weight

The Deep Problem

I will grant you that the stinky stuff like Solyndra and Fast and Furious are real problems, but a deep problem we have can be seen here in an article about rural post offices closing.

Some residents here also argue that just as the federal government subsidizes oil companies and other industries, it should subsidize rural post offices. Right now, the Postal Service, which is financed through sales of postage, receives no direct federal appropriations, although it is exempt from most taxes.

Townspeople also say the threatened closing insults the region’s lore. Six miles north lies Point Pleasant, the birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant. And these river towns served as havens for the underground railroad.

Shelby Lucas, who has lived all of his 64 years in Neville, complained about the inconvenience that would accompany a closing. “It may save money for the post office, but it will cost us money, and it’s a hassle for us,” he said. “I’ll have to drive four miles each way to the post office in Moscow, but with the price of gas, that can really cost. It won’t be easy for retirees like me.”

Individuals cannot see the picture. Instead they are just looking under their own hats. I understand a little complaining but seriously should a post office that is losing billions keep an office open for 100 people so that Shelby Lucas doesn’t have to drive 4 miles? Or so that Susan Reid won’t have to find out the local news somewhere else?

Should everything stay exactly the same now and forever?

If the post office closes in this little town, perhaps one enterprising individual can start a business of picking up everyone’s mail and delivering it personally. Perhaps if the post office closes in this little town then the diner will start to thrive as people use it for the news gathering place. Perhaps if the post office closes in this little town there can continue to be a post office.

Friday Fun

Ok, it only would be fun if it happened. It didn’t happen but that doesn’t mean I can’t imagine it.

Imagine, if you will….As Obama welcomes Honduras back to the “democratic fold” and the OAS with this remark to President Lobo: [this party DID happen]

What we’ve been seeing is a restoration of democratic practices and a commitment to reconciliation that gives us great hope,” Obama told reporters as Lobo sat beside him in the Oval Office. “Of course much work remains to be done.”

[this part didn't happen] President Lobo responds: “F*&% you you arrogant prick!” And notes the August 2009 study of the Law Library of Contress that agrees Honduras did not have a coup but instead followed their constitution pretty much to the letter in 2008, the year Obama et all kicked Honduras out of OAS.

THAT would have been fun.

Instead President Lobo apparently spread his cheeks and not only thanked Obama for his support but has welcomed the wannabe dictator Zelaya back into Honduras.

I miss President Michelletti.

Absurdities

HHS and Obamacare
Now, just NOW the federal government is getting around to deciding what should be in the basic health care plan that all will be required to have. There are even “listening sessions” from HHS to figure out what the people want. How is this possible? Wouldn’t requirements for these plans HAVE to be in the budget numbers to figure out what Obamacare will cost?? Oh – yeah – “we have to pass the bill before we find out what’s in it.”
……………

The Nuclear Option
The reason behind Harry Reid hitting the nuke button is so that Democrats in the Senate aren’t forced to vote on the provisions of Obama’s jobs bill.

The Democratic leader had become fed up with Republican demands for votes on motions to suspend the rules after the Senate had voted to limit debate earlier in the day.
McConnell had threatened such a motion to force a vote on the original version of President Obama’s jobs package, which many Democrats don’t like because it would limit tax deductions for families earning over $250,000.

……………………..

Walgreens and Anthem Blue Cross
In a dispute between the two companies about a rate for reimbursement on prescriptions a customer who’s insurance will no longer be carried at Walgreens notes with dismay: “It’s just like all the rate increases for our insurance,” Ziegler said. “All they care about are profits.”

Um, yeah.
…………..
Jobobamacare
Concerning that jobs bill, Obama is now lecturing Republicans because by not passing his bill it means they are doing nothing about jobs.

The president urged passage of the $447 billion American Jobs Act and warned Republicans who oppose the measure that they will have to explain their opposition “to me, and more importantly, to their constituencies” at a time of mounting economic uncertainty.

Easy – go back to the first absurdity and ask if you would hire in these current times. No ones hires at a time of “mounting economic uncertainty” and spending 447 billion that doesn’t exist while counting on taxes from millionaires in 2013 as if those millionaires won’t figure out where to hide the extra $110,000 a year is crazy.

About 392,000 households would get hit by the Senate Democrats’ proposed 5.6 percent tax on income above $1 million, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank. In 2013, the first year the tax would take effect, those households would see their taxes increase by an average of $110,500, according to the analysis.

AND if one of our problems as a nation is the pending doom of Social Security, then how on earth is extending the payrroll tax going to help our long term fiscal health?

It is likely Congress will eventually pass Obama’s proposal to extend and expand the Social Security payroll tax cuts that took effect on Jan. 1, the costliest part of the overall jobs plan.

Absurd.

Speaking of jobs and a jobs bill and Steve Jobs….John Podheretz has a column that is NOT absurd and ends thusly.

Jobs gave a commencement address at Stanford in 2005 when he told the graduates to “love what you do,” which is about as perfect a distillation of the “pursuit of happiness” as anything I’ve ever seen.
The obvious objection to this description of American greatness is that a Steve Jobs comes along once a century — that people don’t necessarily have the luxury of loving what they do or having the vision to effect it, and that our economic system has to be designed for their benefit and not to free up space for the next Steve Jobs.

That objection gets it entirely wrong. America’s greatness comes from Steve Jobs, and from everybody who has only a millionth in him of what he had — drive, determination, a hunger to succeed and the capacity to see better and greater things in the future than exist in the present.

Such people exist everywhere, in every nation on the planet. But their ability to pursue happiness is impeded by cultural and political roadblocks that the Founding Fathers removed from our path in their conception of the United States.

Barack Obama does not understand this. Steve Jobs did. He will be remembered as a greater American than the president during whose term he died.

Amen.

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

This is perfect. RIP Mr. Jobs. Thanks to xkcd