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Greece Enters Krugman Death Spiral

May 20, 2011 12:51 PM
Greece is facing another  - and this time major downgrade to its debt by Fitch and the continent's liberal policies may indeed bankrupt the EU. In the US - the Obama administration in partnership with Pelosi, Reid and liberal Democrats are not only modeling US policy on Europe they are trying to get to insolvency first. Paul Krugman of the New York Times is the biggest proponent in the media of spending well beyond our means and many use his writings as cover to behave financially in a way they wouldn't and can't in their personal or corporate lives.

I hope those who believe in fiscal responsibility and hope to leave a better country to their children will join me in utilizing the new and infinitely accurate term "Krugman Death Spiral" when referring to any country which spends beyond its means and subsequently spirals downward.

Obama Death Spiral works as well - or Reid or Pelosi - your call really. Continue Reading...
Sure, keep trusting those “experts”

I am not a financial expert nor am I an economist – but considering they all have missed virtually every significant financial event from the dotcom bubble to the telecom bubble and the housing bubble let’s just say not being an economist or financial expert probably is a distinct advantage.

Having said this, I would like to discuss a few issues which need to be out in the open and discussed before the new Congress begins.

Bank runs are bad

Banks do not keep all of their assets in cash meaning if the majority of a bank’s customers decide to withdraw all of their money at the same time, the bank collapses. Think about it – they loan much of the money they have to others and don’t have access to it all. When one bank collapses there is a chance other investors will get spooked and create a cascade of bank failures. When not stopped, you have the potential for another Great Depression.

Bank runs are currently stoppable because governments can stop them

To date, bank runs have been stopped because governments around the world have been able to stop them by assuming the bad loans the banks have made.

Soon, global governments may not be able to stop the bank runs
With all the debt global governments have amassed, there is a possibility at some point that investors will start a global bank run meaning county after country will see their banks collapse because the confidence in the ability of a country to pay back its debt has plummeted.

Ireland may kick off a worldwide panic

If you follow financial news you may know much of Europe is in trouble because in general they work less hours than they should and produce far less than they need to in order to sustain the lifestyle they live. Continue Reading...

Washington Elite Disconnect

December 15, 2010 10:52 AM
If you graduated college and live in the DC area you are less than half as likely to think Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. So says a Politco poll which is full of useful information which shows fairly consistently that Washington elites are somewhat if not totally disconnected from the rest of the population.

Consider that this month, 38% of the DC elites think the economy is headed in the right direction but only 26% of the general population believes this is the case.

The poll itself shows why the disconnect is taking place. We know that the Obama administration is responsible for the largest federal payroll in history so we would assume that government workers and those who feed off them are very happy. Moreover, the average government worker makes twice what the typical non-government worker makes. Continue Reading...

Obama Tax Position Analysis

December 10, 2010 3:20 PM
The recent press conference where President Obama tried to sell tax cuts for those making over $250k while extending unemployment benefits for 13 months struck me as being odd but until I read Peggy Noonan's article titled From Audacity to Animosity, I couldn't understand what was so perplexing.



This portion of the article is most important:

President Obama was supposed to be announcing an important compromise, as he put it, on tax policy. Normally a president, having agreed with the opposition on something big, would go through certain expected motions. He would laud the specific virtues of the plan, show graciousness toward the negotiators on the other side—graciousness implies that you won—and refer respectfully to potential critics as people who'll surely come around once they are fully exposed to the deep merits of the plan.

Instead Mr. Obama said, essentially, that he hates the deal he just agreed to, hates the people he made the deal with, and hates even more the people who'll criticize it.

Continue Reading...

Reagan is Right, Keynes is Wrong

December 1, 2010 1:33 PM
If each of us individually cannot borrow our way to prosperity, is it logical to believe that collectively we can do the same? Absolutely not. But that doesn't stop politicians from borrowing massive amounts of money from potentially hostile regimes to finance a virtual Ponzi scheme of promised entitlements.



Ronald Reagan said the following during his inauguration - "You and I as individuals, by borrowing, can live beyond our means but for only a limited period of time. Why then should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation?"

He continued, "We must act today, in order to preserve tomorrow. Continue Reading...

Shakedown Socialism

November 30, 2010 10:18 AM
shakedown-socialism.jpg

Oleg Atbashian of shakedownsocialism.com joined Alexis Garcia of PJTV to discuss his childhood in Russia where communism was painted as an ideal way to live. He later realized it wasn't - unless of course you like to stand in line for hours to get a loaf of bread - or be slaughtered by your dictator (benevolent comrade communist party leader).

As a Russian immigrant, he is ideally suited to write a book called Shakedown Socialism which details his concerns that the US is headed down the path towards socialism.

He says he can't believe he would have to write anti-socialist and anti-communist documents here in America - and frankly we are pretty surprised that the country has gotten to this point as well.

One of his points is that journalists seem to be obsessed by how much other people make.

Moreover he equates unions with communism - as they both espouse redistribution of wealth and "fairness". Not surprisingly, President Obama has been on record time and time again as a huge proponent of the idea and his policies are in lockstep with his words.

At one point in his interview he mentions the famous Margaret Thatcher quote, " The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." This quote is especially relevant as country after country in Europe is really running out of other people's money before our eyes.

Other important topics in the book include all the red flags (pun intended) which are going off as a result of analysis of Obama's foreign and domestic policy.

You can buy the book here.
Continue Reading...

Federal Pay Cut Analysis

November 29, 2010 12:55 PM | Comments
Today, President Obama proposed a freeze on federal pay for specific workers for a period of two years and we are left wondering why. After all, the President has said repeatedly that we need the public sector to get the economy "back on track" because the private sector cannot.

So if we cut spending in the public sector or at least cancel scheduled increases, does this mean we are acknowledging that the private sector is better equipped to get the economy moving?

Or is this move just a ploy to take steam away from Republicans who will be taking control of the House and pushing massive cost-cuts. We believe that Obama has not found religion on the issue and is trying to reduce the amount of credit the Republicans will get for future cost-cutting in the next election.

Moreover, he will now be able to make it seem like he cares about deficits and being fiscally responsible.

We hope of course that we are wrong and that Obama has decided to become fiscally conservative but this would not be consistent with the plurality of his speeches and actions.

But from a political standpoint, it is a smart move.

In the mean time, it is worth reading two recent articles in the USA Today on government versus private sector compensation. One discusses how many government workers make over $150,000 per year and the other discusses how federal wages and benefits are double what they are in the private sector.

Based on this information, wouldn't it make sense to announce federal pay cuts - not just a freeze?
Continue Reading...

Democrats Compete to Kill Most Jobs

November 22, 2010 8:18 AM
And they wonder why companies are moving to Switzerland

The detachment of US politicians never ceases to amaze us - they blab on and on about made-up class divisions and talk endlessly about how wealthy need to pay their "fair share" - all the while never focusing on reality which is, anyone with the drive and ambition in the US can make it to the top and become wealthy.

The greatest irony of all of course is hearing about manufactured class divisions from President Obama - a minority who went from having a single parent and living on food stamps to Harvard and the Presidency - while becoming a millionaire!

And as if this were not not enough, each year, poor people from around the world escape their own countries to come to the US and many quickly become millionaires as well. And generally with immigrants, English is not their first language - putting them at a major disadvantage.

Instead of celebrating the hundreds of millions of people who have been pulled out of poverty worldwide because of the current US quasi-capitalist system and trying to help everyone make it to the top, leading Democrats like Pelosi, Reid and Barney Frank have continued their war on the productive job creators of this nation through policies, threats and speeches. Let us not forget Hillary Clinton who believes that no matter how much US tax payers shell out - it is not enough - and she says we need to emulate Brazil of all places. One wonders if the Democrats have a secret competition going on between them to see who can destroy the most jobs for their citizens.



Should anyone be surprised that after pumping trillions of dollars borrowed from other countries into our economy, it is not producing many if any jobs? Continue Reading...

White House to Become Business Friendly

November 7, 2010 2:59 PM
The White House is looking for ways to become more business friendly according to a Reuters article on MSNBC.com. Expect more business roundtables and perhaps even a payroll tax holiday.

We at the Patriot Talk blog believe it may take at least a year before the Obama administration can even start to win over numerous business leaders such as Jack Welch and Ken Langone who have detailed how the president is extremely anti-business. Welch even produced a game plan on how the Republicans in the house can oppose his various anti-business, job-killing actions. But in 12 months, the campaign for President in 2012 will be back in full swing and we can expect a string of populist comments and other rhetoric blaming business for the country's problems.

In short, unless some sort of miracle happens, we don't see a situation where the Obama administration will win over business and get the economy back in high-gear.

Besides, even if Obama actually does embrace business, the leaders of companies are just as concerned with the administration's runaway spending as they are about the rhetoric and other anti-business actions from the White House. Continue Reading...

Moderate Democrat Says Obama Tone Deaf

November 6, 2010 7:31 PM
Sure you might expect Republicans to say President Obama and Nancy Pelosi are tone deaf after listening to them not connect huge Democrat losses with the fact that the country was voting against many of their policies. But when a moderate Democrat starts calling the White House "tone deaf" and saying there is a disconnect between the White House and the rest of the country, you realize the Democratic party has major problems.

Of course the Obama, Pelosi, Reid agenda is exactly what the country just voted against and amazingly, none of our leaders seem to get it.

Politico's Jonathan Martin has the details about these comments made by
Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Alex Sink on Politico.

Sink's closing comments perhaps are most important as they sum up what the American people have been saying for about a year,
“They just need to be better listeners and be better at reaching out to people who are on the ground to hear about the realities of their policies as well as politics.”

Obama for his part continues to be defiant and rigidly ideological about his policies - he said he has spent too much time legislating and not enough time persuading. Yet, no president in recent memory has made more speeches in less time.

The sense of this blog is that we don't expect the White House to pivot to the center like President Clinton - instead we should all be prepared for more speeches, more explaining, more YouTube videos, more Facebook entries and tweets.

But we would like to point out the media that the President is using are of the two-way variety - and we wonder, we really wonder - does the White Hous actually check to see what other people are saying on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter or will they be the only ones doing the "persuading?"

Continue Reading...

Recent Comments

  • Musing: I say cut the salaries of the house and senate read more
  • Anonymous - Government worker: Obama reaches out and makes a decision to cut government read more
  • Rich Tehrani: It is surprising that your pay is lower than what read more
  • anonymous: As a federal worker I wish I was paid what read more
  • Peter: Unless you live in Florida and watched the drama unfold, read more
  • Tom Keating: Ok, that's just freaky, cuz I watched this like 15 read more

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