In Light of B Hussein's Win..

"Politicians have immense power to do harm to the economy. But they have very little power to do good," -Walter Williams.

Open Letter To B Hussein

This Letter was sent as an open invitation to B Hussein to meet with a small business owner and understand the impact his policies may have on society. While it is long, it is very good and worth the read.

Here are some excerpts:

Your ascension to power from obscurity has come by three means: (1) refined oratory skills, (2) pandering to the middle class with arguments based totally on emotion, and (3) demonizing a very important element of society -- successful working class business owners, the rich and those aspiring “to be” rich, who do not openly defend themselves because they have been falsely taught to feel guilty about their noble values and conservatism. They should not now or ever bear any guilt.

I believe the extreme leftist wing of the Democrat Party which you lead will destroy some very important elements of our economy - notably the working class business owners like me and the millions of small closely-held businesses which are the nation’s lifeblood.

The policy agenda you share with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid contain elements that are the outright enemies of democratically-free economies.

The enemies of democratically-free economies have now, under the cover of populist sentiment slipped in during the night. These enemies callously demonize and threaten the very engine of our economic prosperity for their own political ambitions. They do this hoping that we, the powerless business underclass, will not speak up to defend ourselves because of some guilt we are made to carry. Well, we are not guilty, we are speaking, and we are enraged.

You may think the high income earners are ripping off the nation. This is just not true. They have become the high income earners because they are the nation’s most productive segment and have borne economic and social risks to build successful businesses.

Your promise to 95% of Americans that they will receive a tax break is an outright deception and appalling. How can the 40% who pay no taxes receive a tax break? Under the guise of innovative tax policy, you are masterfully creating a new welfare entitlement system.

The letter continues with many great points. Please share with anyone that could possibly think of voting B Hussein into office.

Why Markets Are Weak

Great article today in the WSJ:

To state the obvious: The valuation of an individual stock reflects the collective expectation of investors about a company's future profits, dividends and appreciation, and the same is true of the market as a whole. These profits, in turn, are greatly influenced by government policy on taxes, spending, subsidies, environmental and other regulations, labor laws, and the corporate legal climate. Investors have heard enough from both candidates in the last month or two to conclude that prospects for a flourishing, competitive, growing and reasonably free economy in a McCain administration are bad, and in an Obama administration far worse. (In fact, the market's bearish behavior over the last couple of months pretty closely tracks Barack Obama's gains.)

If you don't believe me, please answer a few questions:

- Have you thought of what a gradual doubling (and indexation) of the minimum wage, sailing through a veto-proof and filibuster-proof Congress, would do to inflation, unemployment and corporate profits? The market now has.

- Have you thought of how easily a Labor Department headed by a militant union boss would push through a "Transparency in Labor Relations" law that does away with secret ballots in strike votes, and what this would do to industrial peace? The market now has.

- Have you thought of how a Treasury Secretary George Soros would engineer the double taxation of the multinationals' world-wide profits, and what this would mean for investors (to say nothing of full-scale industrial flight from the U.S.)? The market now has.

- Have you thought of how an Attorney General Charles J. Ogletree would champion a trillion-dollar reparations-for-slavery project (whittled down, to be fair, to a mere $800-billion, over-10-years compromise), and what this would do to the economy? The market now has.

- Have you thought of what the virtual outlawing of arbitration -- exposing all industries to the fate of asbestos producers -- would do to corporate liability and legal bills? The market now has.

- Have you thought of how a Health and Human Services Secretary Hillary Clinton would fix drug prices (generously allowing 10% over the cost of raw materials), and what this would do to the financial health of the pharmaceutical industry (not to mention the nondiscovery of lifesaving drugs)? The market now has.

- Have you thought of a Secretary of the newly established Department of Equal Opportunity for Women mandating "comparable worth" pay practices for every company doing any business with government at any level -- where any residual gap between the average pay of men and women is an eo ipso violation? Have you thought about what this would do to administrative and legal costs, hiring practices, productivity and wage bills? The market now has.

- Have you thought of what confiscatory "windfall profits" taxes on oil companies would do to exploration, supply and prices? The market now has.

- Have you thought of how the nationalization of health insurance, the mandated coverage of ever more -- and more exotic -- risks, the forced reimbursement for excluded events, and the diminished freedom to match premium to risk would affect the insurance industry? The market now has.

- Have you thought of Energy Czar Al Gore's five million new green jobs -- high-paying, unionized and subsidized -- to replace, at five times the cost, what we are now producing without those five million workers, and what this will do to our productivity, deficit and competitiveness? The market now has.

The market is forward looking. If it is unhappy with a president, it does not wait almost eight years before the numbers reflect it. If it really anticipated good times under Mr. Obama, the market would have gained 40% in anticipation of the transition. By losing that much, it seems to be saying the opposite.

The silver lining in all this is that the market has already "discounted" an Obama win, so if that happens you won't wake up on Nov. 5 to find your remaining savings down the drain. If the unexpected happens, you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

I agree that a surprise McCain win would be a boost for the markets. The B Hussein discount would be removed and we could see 15-25% recovery almost immediately. However, the misinformed, or il-informed, voting public hears all these great socialist ideas, that have been tried and failed, and B Hussein seems to be an easy victor. Romney would have beat B Hussein...

To the Undecided Voter

From Neil Boortz:

There’s a quote that’s been floating around since I began my talk radio career. This quote is most often attributed to someone named Alexander Tyler writing in 1787 about the fall of the Athenian Republic. Others have said the guy’s name was Tyler. Let’s not argue spelling right now … let’s just get to the quote, because the quote goes to the heart of this presidential election:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

Think about this, my friends. Isn’t this exactly what we’re seeing right now? In fact, hasn’t this pretty much been the theme of Democrat Party election politics for nearly as long as you can remember? Here we have Barack Obama promising that he’s only going to raise taxes on the evil rich who make over $250,000 a year while 95% of Americans will get tax cuts. Think of this in terms of votes; higher taxes for 5% of the voters, lower taxes for the other 95%. It really doesn’t take all that much brainpower to figure out how this is going to work at in an election does it? You take money away from the people whose votes you don’t need, and give it to the people whose votes you do need. So very simple. The result is that people have, in fact, discovered that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. Who is promising those wonderful goodies? That would be Barack Obama. Just what percentage of voters out there do you think are going to vote for Obama simply because he is promising them someone else’s money? My guess is that the number would be high enough to constitute the margin of victory for The Great Redistributionist.

The entire column is very good and should be read by everyone.

Wishing We Had 4 Different Choices

It is clear we have no one running for office that knows anything about economics. I bet McCain wishes he chose Mitt....

From Ideoblog:

Calling for Mitt

During this financial crisis, it's been weird to watch the presidential candidates be almost a sideshow to the dominant crisis of the day on election eve, as all eyes turn to Bernanke and Paulson. And so I wonder (and I'm not alone), what if McCain had picked as his running mate somebody who actually knew something about business – i.e., Mitt Romney? In any event, hopefully this election teaches a lesson about the importance of real business expertise these days.

Campaign for Character

Prof. Boudreaux writes a great letter to the editor today.

Here's a letter sent yesterday to the New York Times:

Paul Krugman is correct: the McCain campaign's fabrications and half-truths say much about what a McCain administration would do ("Blizzard of Lies," Sept. 12). But an Obama administration is unlikely to be any better. Sen. Obama eloquently proclaims platitudes. He gallivants around the country to perform for adoring crowds - masses of people stirred by his mere presence and cheering his empty bromides. Because it's true, as Mr. Krugman notes, that "how a politician campaigns tells you a lot about how he or she would govern," a President Obama would be chiefly a messianic cult leader, promising miracle cures and salvation-by-the-speech - and daily coming more and more to mistake his own charisma for character, and his own rhetoric for reality.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

Dubya not so bad afterall.

Too bad the Democrats got some bad information or they lied last weeks. Turns out Dubya did alright during his terms in office. For some reason I doubt this will shut up the folks from the left. From the WSJ today:

- Economic growth. U.S. output has expanded faster than in most advanced economies since 2000. The IMF reports that real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average annual rate of 2.2% over the period 2001-2008 (including its forecast for the current year). President Bush will leave to his successor an economy 19% larger than the one he inherited from President Clinton. This U.S. expansion compares with 14% by France, 13% by Japan and just 8% by Italy and Germany over the same period.

- Household consumption. The ICP study found that the average per-capita consumption of the U.S. population (citizens and illegal immigrants combined) was second only to Luxembourg's, out of 146 countries covered in 2005. The U.S. average was $32,045. This was well above the levels in the UK ($25,155), Canada ($23,526), France ($23,027) and Germany ($21,742). China stood at $1,751.

- Employment. The U.S. employment rate, measured by the percentage of people of working age (16-65 years) in jobs, has remained high by international standards. The latest OECD figures show a rate of 71.7% in 2006. This was more than five percentage points above the average for the euro area.

The U.S. unemployment rate averaged 4.7% from 2001-2007. This compares with a 5.2% average rate during President Clinton's term of office, and is well below the euro zone average of 8.3% since 2000.

The evidence shows that much of the Democratic Party's criticism of President Bush's economic record is wide of the mark. True, the economic slowdown now affecting most advanced countries will likely result in rising unemployment over the coming months. But thanks to sensible policies pursued by the Bush administration (not always with adequate support from a Democratic-controlled Congress), the U.S. economy is sufficiently flexible to keep unemployment below the 7.7% peak reached in the last post-recession year of 1992.

The B Hussein Tax Plan

He says lower taxes for the "middle class" but that is just more rhetoric. From The American:

Media Pessimism

The advertisement is the most truthful part of a newspaper.

Thomas Jefferson

TJ of course says it best. However, there is a good piece in the WSJ that does a pretty good job as well.

And Now a Moment of Realism
Barack Obama during his acceptance speech played a riff on Phil Gramm's impolitic remarks about a "mental recession" and a "nation of whiners." Like a succession of Democrats at the podium, he painted the economy in the darkest, most hopeless of colors -- never mind that the economy is actually growing and unemployment is still lower than it was during much of the Clinton presidency.

Job security and job satisfaction are both high in America too. "In Gallup's August 2008 survey, 48% working Americans said they were completely satisfied, and another 42% somewhat satisfied. Only 9% were dissatisfied with their jobs." And sorry, Lou Dobbs, that war on the middle class and the outsourcing of America that you complain about every night? Americans aren't buying it. Only 8% worry about their jobs being outsourced to foreign competition. Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation tells me this squares with the economic data. "Very few jobs are lost each year to companies moving jobs offshore," he says.

Where are the people to vouch for B Hussein?

Charles Krauthammer makes a great point in his Townhall.com piece this week. Just where are the people that can say they have accomplished something with B Hussein or can vouch for his character? No one is coming forward except his wife? The woman that just recently was proud of her country?

So where are the colleagues? The buddies? The political or spiritual soul mates? His most important spiritual adviser and mentor was Jeremiah Wright. But he's out. Then there's William Ayers, with whom he served on a board. He's out. Where are the others?

The oddity of this convention is that its central figure is the ultimate self-made man, a dazzling mysterious Gatsby. The palpable apprehension is that the anointed is a stranger -- a deeply engaging, elegant, brilliant stranger with whom the Democrats had a torrid affair. Having slowly woken up, they see the ring and wonder who exactly they married last night.

The Good News Is Bad News For B Hussein

So much for Bush's failed policies. Looks like things aren't as bad as B Hussein would like us to believe. This is from IBD today:

Even so, we were struck by Thursday's news that second-quarter GDP was revised up from 1.9% to 3.3%, more in line with boom than bust. The consensus estimate was for 2.7% growth.

As more than one economist has noted, nearly all of that growth — some 3.1% of it — came from stronger exports, a result of the weak dollar. The rest came from inventories. Take those away, and the economy crawled at a weak 0.2% pace for the quarter.

But listening to the media and the Democrats in Denver, you'd think the economy was in a depression. Well, it's not. In fact, we're modestly optimistic. By the end of this year, all the really bad year-to-year comparisons in growth will be over.

Moreover, oil demand now is falling. The Energy Department recently reported a shocking statistic that got little attention: U.S. demand in June plummeted 1.17 million barrels a day from last year, and a spokesman said prices could fall below $100 a barrel due to rising output in the U.S., Brazil and Canada.

Other data also suggest grounds for optimism. Just this week, the Census Department reported median household income hit $50,233 in 2007, after inflation, a gain of 1.6% since 2001.

Despite the slowdown in growth, the number of people without health insurance fell one million last year, while the poverty rate was unchanged at 12.5% of the population. And believe it or not, the average unemployment and poverty rates under President Bush have been slightly lower than under President Clinton.

Palin

I have to admit that I thought McCain was making a mockery of the campaign by selecting Sarah Palin as the VP nominee. I figured this was nothing more that a cheap trick to address the women vote.

I was wrong. I spent the last couple hours watching some C-SPAN and other interviews here and I have to admit that I am thoroughly impressed by this woman. I really believe she is not a career politician. She has strong fiscal conservative ideals. This woman sold the state jet on EBAY because she thought is was a waste.

CATO even gives her high marks initially. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I think McCain made a winning move. B Hussein will have a tough time shooting holes in her story.

Obamanomics, Part?

The NYT ran a transcript of B Hussein's oratory last night at the DNC. I found this part very interesting:

OBAMA: And I'll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power, and solar power (OTCBB:SOPW) , and the next generation of biofuels -- an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced.

I did not know B Hussein had $150B? What he really meant to say, I guess, is that he would take $150B of taxpayer money and distribute that money to several companies that are politically well connected to certain members of Congress. That is $150B that taxpayers won't have to spend on things they value.

If you have health care -- if you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

Really? Just how is he going to force my insurance company to lower my premiums? Are citizens going to have to work to get the same benefits that Congress receives? I know Congress does nothing, but that is only 535 people. Adding 50 million people to that benefit is no small cost.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses, and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have the exact same opportunities as your sons.

Pensions are protected. The government already has an insurance programs for such cases. But how is he going to protect Social Security? 2% of the population cannot support the benefits for the other 98% forever.

I guess B Hussein has not checked any studies that show there is equal pay for equal work. Differences in work history and tenure are the biggest reason for pay differentials, not sex. If companies could get away with hiring women at a big discount to men, they would. It would be a tremendous cost advantage that would essentially force their competitors out of business.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility, that's the essence of America's promise. And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad.

Individual responsibility? Since when did B Hussein encourage this? The massive social programs he proposes encourage dependency, not responsibility.

The -- the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals.

When is the last time you heard of AK-47s being used in crimes in this country? This isn't the Middle East. Everyone knows that a Glock 9mm is a much better urban weapon. That proves B Hussein is not connected to the inner city.

I've seen it in Washington, where we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans, and keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Since when have you been in DC B Husein? From January of this year, there have been 32 votes on spending and appropriations. B Hussein made 7 of them. The rest were non-votes. Care for Veterans? You think B Hussein has heard of Walter Reed? He wants to keep nukes out of Iran's hands...by asking them!

The Democrat ticket is destructive. Having a Democrat in the White House and control of Congress lead to the New Deal and the Great Society programs. We will truly be bankrupt as a country if B Hussein gets the keys.

Polticians Won't....

Arnold Kling at Econlog makes some good points and describes why he is go grouchy lately.

1. That no politician will end America's consumption of foreign oil. Ever.

2. That no politician will figure out a way to bring the bottom half of America's children up to the level where they can benefit from a college education.

3. That no politician will figure out a way to make American health care--meaning virtually unlimited access to specialists and technology--affordable for everyone.

4. That no politician will alter the trends in technology and family structure that are driving the distribution of income and wealth.

5. That no politician will produce a sustainable fiscal outlook without trimming future Social Security and Medicare benefits. (I might have ended the previous sentence simply by putting a period after "outlook")

6. That no politician needs to create jobs. There is always too much work to be done. The problem is never to create jobs. The problem is for individuals to adapt their abilities to ever-changing job opportunities.

7. That no politician will be able to articulate an economic difference between moving labor or goods from country X to country Y and moving labor or goods from Maryland to Virginia.

Now if only people would recognize the all the political BS and ask more from our politicians.