Caracas on the Potomac
Welcome to the Banana States of America.
Sadly, no. Porkulus was never about juicing the economy. It’s about baselining massive new government spending under the guise of an “emergency.” Well, the emergency is nearly over, yet the spending has barely begun. Strangely enough, that seems to be all according to plan, says Vice President Joe Biden. “We’re 85 days into a two-year program here — we’re trying to get the money out as quickly as we can, but not too quickly, so we don’t end up really screwing up here.”
As it turns out, two years from now we might really appreciate the money — because what The One gives you with one hand, he’ll take away with the other. The White House, and its compliant press corps, says again and again that “95% of Americans” will see a tax cut. Unless, of course, you smoke. Or drink sodas. Or drink alcohol (What???). Or snack. “Sin” taxes are going up, all to pay for massive new spending on health care.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that “the Medicare fund … is expected to run out of money in 2017, two years sooner than projected.” And that Social Security “will be exhausted in 2037, four years earlier than predicted.” With news like that, we’re going to need all the investment and growth we can muster. Unfortunately …
Chrysler’s “managed” bankruptcy is going to make raising capital more difficult, as investors become wary of our thuggish new business climate. Forbes magazine’s Richard A. Epstein charitably characterizes the president’s mucking about in Chrysler’s reorganization as “injecting unneeded uncertainty” into the economy.
Speaking of uncertainty, President Obama’s “cap-and-trade” energy tax proposals could increase fuel expenses on everyone, rich and poor alike, by $1,500 per household each and every year. It’s going to be difficult to grow our way out of that burden, if radically increased federal borrowing ($9 trillion or more over the coming years) crowds out investments in the private sector. Or if the Treasury or the Fed keeps printing brand new dollars by the trillion, causing the dollar to crash and/or inflation to spike. So whether it’s in the form of higher inflation, higher interest rates, or reduced growth, taxes are going up on … approximately 117% of all Americans.
Is it any wonder that more and more of the economy is being driven into the untaxed underground? In the new issue of Reason, Greg Beato writes, “The number of listings in the barter section of Craigslist jumped 100 percent from January 2008 to January 2009.” Tax receipts, already plummeting, are sure to decline even further, as Americans “go Galt in miniature” by relying on barter or home brew (anybody have any good vodka distilling recipes?) and whatever else they can do to stay out of the way of Washington’s greedy, groping, grasping little fingers.
A massive underground economy. An ever-more massive federal government. Major manufacturing and financial industries in the hands of the president and his cronies. Unprecedented debts we’ll have to either repudiate or inflate away. A business climate based on fear and favor.
In other words, welcome to the Banana States of America.
So maybe we should cross our fingers and wish the stimulus the best of luck. It might provide the best times we’ll see for a while.
*Corrected — thanks for the comments!
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Stephen Green writes, broadcasts, and enjoys the occasional lovely adult beverage at the home he shares with his wife and son in Monument, Colorado.
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81 Comments
1. BPT (Australia):I just hope those who vote for him suffer the most. Sad to say, but people can only learn through pain.
May 15, 2009 - 12:52 am 2. steve macdonald:The horrible thing is that as bad as the picture you paint is, the end picture will be worse. The cap and trade number of $1500 per household for example does not account for the impact of home heating and driving cost as the global economy recovers and oil & gas head back up.
May 15, 2009 - 2:50 am 3. JHM dba ''GKC":So much for my planned early retirement.
“This began to be alarming. It looked not so much as if [Obamatism] was bad enough to include any vices, but rather as if any stick was good enough to beat [Obamatism] with. What again could this astonishing thing be like which people were so anxious to contradict, that in doing so they did not mind contradicting themselves?”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/130/130.txt
May 15, 2009 - 2:55 am 4. Typewriter_King:There was a great article detailing the decline of Argentina in the American Conservative (the paleocon magazine, not the political party) that drew excellent parallels with the current cast of Keynesian stimulators in American governance.
Basically, we’re seeing a replay of Peron and a cascade of poorly-conceived and poorly-timed attempts at counter-cyclical deficit spending and urban renewal projects.
But we can all make it better. I know, unfortunately, the Slumlord of Hope would get ultimate credit, but consider what it means that Recovery Act grants often go to local government and community non-profit organizations. It means we can win local offices, apply for grants, and at least manage the crumbs we win competently, and do what’s best for where we live. There’s no reason to leave these funds to the incumbents Obama meant to funnel to, if we jump in and intercept.
I’m trying to get started where I live. What about everyone else?
May 15, 2009 - 3:02 am 5. Terry Gain:It looks like the only way to prevent America’s wealth from disappearing will be to nationalize it.
May 15, 2009 - 4:18 am 6. SteveB/Colorado:So, what’s your solutions to our problems? It’s real easy to sit on a web site and lob long range artillery shells, so to speak.
As a side observation, Bush/Cheney, two supposed conservatives, had opportunities to solve many of these economic problems. However, their giveaways to various corporate interests and engaging us in an unnecessary war in Iraq didn’t help matters. Just some thoughts……..
May 15, 2009 - 4:31 am 7. eon:One of the problems with thinking, and behaving, like a Latin American pseudo-populist caudillo’ is that sooner or later, you run into the classic “Caudillo Conundrum”. That being that after you’ve looted the treasury, nationalized everything, and run out your credit to bribe the peons’ to keep their support, the bill comes due and you can’t pay it.
The usual solution in South America has been for the caudillo to accuse a neighboring country of being responsible for his own country’s ills, invade same, and loot its treasury, etc., or at least use such a war to divert the peons’ attention from the leader’s incompetence. The Falklands War of 1982, the Gran Chaco War (1932-39), and several other confrontations fall into this category. These followed the model of the nation-state which believed that it could actually fight wars for pure profit; revolutionary France (1792-1815).
The One’s problem will be that his own philosophy prohibits “war for profit”, and none of our nearby neighbors are viable targets from that standpoint anyway. (Mexico is broke, and while Canada’s natural resources might look tempting from that POV, his own supporters on the “deep green” side would demand that all such resources be declared off-limits forever, to “Save Holy Mother Gaia”.)
This leaves the possibility of financial blackmail- but the only likely potential “marks” are countries that are either in worse financial shape than we are (most of Europe, Russia), or are already holding large amounts of our “promissory notes” (mainland China, which also is a regional military power.) So it’s unlikely that he could “finesse” his way out of such a hole, either.
The One’s only real alternative would be to raise taxes, on all of us, to the point where all money literally belonged to the federal government. At which point, even after he’s managed to pay for even a respectable fraction of his “prior commitments”, the economy collapses anyway.
In short, he’s painted himself into a corner, and is now busy digging a hole he will be unable to climb out of. And his facilitators in Congress are no more able to cope with the facts than he is.
Unlike a lot of The One’s critics, I do not attribute this to his being a “closet Marxist”. He, and his enablers, are up-front-and-open syndicalists, who believe that they have absolute wisdom on all subjects. They don’t, but are too clueless to realize it. Which means that they will continue on their present course, not out of a desire to destroy us (although their visceral dislike of all things American means they wouldn’t lose any sleep if they did), but because they simply don’t know any better (it would conflict with their philosophy).
As the old saying goes, “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by simple stupidity.”
When reality finally sets in in the nation’s capital, it’s going to be ugly.
clear ether
eon
May 15, 2009 - 4:36 am 8. pH-DependentNeocon:I agree with the premise of you article entirely, but your math is a touch off: $50 billion is 0.4% of $12 trillion (you forgot to multiply by 100). Sorry to have to be a stickler.
May 15, 2009 - 4:50 am 9. Craig:BS of A. With emphasis on BS. Obama and his BS- great post.
May 15, 2009 - 5:04 am 10. ~Paules:The underground economy is the natural market reaction to government central planning. The soviet attempt to collective agriculture is a good case in point. Fifty percent of production was done by collectives on ninety-nine percent of the arable land. The other fifty percent was produced in backyard gardens representing one percent of agricultural land. Collectivists simply refuse to accept the lessons of history, or understand human nature. What’s good for the individual is good for the state and not vice-versa. Self-interest will always trump government planning. I guess we’ll just have to relearn our histories the hard way.
May 15, 2009 - 5:10 am 11. Cybergeezer:Is Obambi taking economic advice from the Wizard of Id? Pretty impressive for some one whom has never even run a lemonade stand. And likely would have failed at that too.
May 15, 2009 - 6:05 am 12. sheesh:Mustard Alert!
Carrie Prejean Day has been cancelled in San Diego!
One argument against “C.P.D.” came from Steve Lily, VP of the school board, who said the district had never honored a former student and didn’t want to start with someone who “had breast implants, posed semi-nude” and whose goal was to be a Victoria’s Secret model.
The economy can wait . . . this should be our cause!
May 15, 2009 - 6:14 am 13. rocketeer:Stephen is correct that the stimulus has nothing to do with stimulating the economy or fixing any systemic problems, it’s all about political control and payback to supporters. It’s disgusting that these criminals have saddled us with debt that will eventually crush this nation. We are getting into a situation where we, as a country, will not be able to tax our way out of the problem, we will have to confiscate the wealth of all, not just the rich. When that happens, and it will have to happen, we’re going to see states succeeding from the union and riots in the streets.
May 15, 2009 - 6:15 am 14. AThinkingPerson:So much for hope and change…
Re # SteveB/Colorado: “As a side observation, Bush/Cheney, two supposed conservatives, had opportunities to solve many of these economic problems. However, their giveaways to various corporate interests and engaging us in an unnecessary war in Iraq didn’t help matters. Just some thoughts……..”
And your point is? TeleBama has passed an outrageous budget, bailed out and rebailed out automakers, banks and now insurance companies and you’re still looking BACKWARD to blame Bush? Please. I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused the auto/bank/insurance bailouts and eventual takeover with a nice windfall for the unions. I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused TeleBama to write that tragic budget full of pork and ACORN payoffs that will triple the deficit Bush left? I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused TeleBama to take race relations back 20 years or more?
May 15, 2009 - 6:35 am 15. Brad:Yeah, SteveB, blame it on the past. Guess what? Obama won; he didn’t “inherit,” he volunteered for the job and got it. Now it’s his, and it is he who has so wildly spent and expanded the debt to unseen proportions.
BTW, if cap and trade happens, or any other form of carbon tax, don’t just look to your energy bills skyrocketing; look for the price of EVERYTHING to rise. Why? Because every single industry that produces any product or commodity, from food processing to limestone, will have to spend millions counting and reporting their carbon molecules. Guess where that cost will be spread.
And that’s an expense on top of the inflation that’s coming b/c of the huge unsustainable debt.
In what year will you folks stop blaming Bush?
May 15, 2009 - 6:57 am 16. uburoisc:SteveB writes: “Giveaways to various corporate interests” Um, more like reducing the takeaways from corporate interests that had accumulated over the years from anti-corporate leftists who believe the public sector creates wealth. American corporations have to compete internationally; if they are treated like cash-cows at home, they will falter in the open market, and when they do, the thousands of people who are paid good wages and have sound benefits all wind up on the dole. Also, the Democrats have all kinds of corporate interests as well that give money and expect favors from their contributions. But just to write something so sophomoric speaks volumes.
Steve, even with overinflated numbers on the cost of the war (necessary in my book, btw, how does it feel to be so wrong about the conclusion, Steve? I’m sure you made a thousand predictions that did not come to pass at all, did they Steve?) the war is still a pittance compared to the big entitlement programs that are going to fail. The US will not default on it’s debt because of the Iraq war, but because the demographics of social spending on Social Security, Medicare, public employees, and a host of other domestic spending outflows that vastly exceed the economic wealth created to pay for them. So rather than face facts, Obama borrows by floating treasuries, only to now complain we can’t continue to ask China to support all this debt. Huh? All we are doing is lying about the oncoming crash, and kicking the can down the road. Bush kicked it down the road with the phony wealth from the housing bubble, and Clinton did it with the dot.com bubble. Now, the private sector won’t be able to paper over all the government spending.
May 15, 2009 - 7:24 am 17. Bohemond:Caudillo indeed.
Including the PR-guided glamour-cult of our very own designer-clad Evita.
Wonder if in 2012 the One will dump Biden and put Mother-of-the-Nation Michelle on the ticket? After all, somebody will have to provide vicarious luxury for us impoverished descamisados.
May 15, 2009 - 7:25 am 18. marc:2012? Are we going to make it as a country by 2012?
May 15, 2009 - 7:38 am 19. JED:Unless something is done, and soon, we might as well turn out the lights.
The true believers are alive and well, thank you, hoping for that miracle of change that Obamanomics promised so well. At this point they can offer us futile distractions and allegience to popularity as the deeper recession trainwreck of hyperinflation just keeps on a coming. Congress is still churning out experimental quickfixes worth trillions more in debt (62% of GDP) and being careful to wipe their fingerprints from what might later prove to be extra-constitutional excesses.
May 15, 2009 - 7:38 am 20. Terry Gain:Calling the US economy a “house built on sand” takes the blame game back to pre-slavery 1492. That puts us all under the big tent. I thank Obama for bringing to issue many of the stalled problems, but I can not agree with the sign-it- urgently solutions. The hogs-in-the trough mentality is worse than the panendemic swine flu.
So, what’s your solutions to our problems? It’s real easy to sit on a web site and lob long range artillery shells, so to speak.
Ouch. The shoe on the other foot is pinching. My solution would have been tax cuts and a reduction in all government spending. That would have restored confidence and stimulated the economy.
May 15, 2009 - 7:45 am 21. mr. burns:Obama will tax for power, but print for solvency. Massive inflation and dollar devaluation is inevitable.
May 15, 2009 - 8:05 am 22. Disciple of Teh One:How dare you! Bananas are monkey food. You’re a racist for saying something that associates monkeys with my Dear Leader. You should be prosecuted for a hate crime.
Racist!
May 15, 2009 - 8:10 am 23. billslayer:We need to look at this whole mess differently! The democrats are doing what they are SUPPOSED to be doing, which is throwing money at problems. Faulting them for this is silly, because they’re just programmed that way. So the REAL FAULT IN THIS IS WITH REPUBLICANS who co-sign on the BS. Thats why we need to talk about changing the rules of the republican party. We need to change it so that any elected republican official who votes in favor of ANY deficit spending is IMMEDIATELY removed from the party. I want you people to think about this–this is forum where like minded people are talking–and we can actually make people listen. I refer to this idea as “the pledge.”
May 15, 2009 - 8:12 am 24. Cybergeezer:Urgent bulletin for all monkey lovers; Bananas are no longer considered exclusive monkey food!
May 15, 2009 - 8:35 am 25. The Shadow:Dope – Go back to talking about the birth certificate
May 15, 2009 - 8:49 am 26. billslayer:OK, at the risk of appearing to to defend possible liberal infiltrators… Bush is a cross that we as conservatives, right wingers etc are going to get nailed to for a long while and we have no one to blame but ourselves. Yes, its totally dishonest for Obama to say he inherited the mess when he had a hand in it, but we can’t demand honesty from him or Pelosi or Olbermann. All we can do is try harder to be honest ourselves…. which segues nicely into my aforementioned statements.
May 15, 2009 - 8:50 am 27. eor:The only problem President Bush had that I could see was the Democrats who villified and trashed him from day one. It was never about the country for them. It was just about regaining power. They had 40 years in Congress and consider it their right. I must say–President Bush did not get the cooperation he should have from many Republicans. There is plenty of blame to go around. It would have done no good for him to have gotten down in the slime with the Dems who are not honorable people in my view. He remains a nice man and a patriot who kept us safe I admire and respect him.
May 15, 2009 - 9:19 am 28. AThinkingPerson:Re #20: “My solution would have been tax cuts and a reduction in all government spending. That would have restored confidence and stimulated the economy.”
That is exactly what should have been done!
May 15, 2009 - 10:27 am 29. anton:SteveB, take this challenge if you will. Point to one government program that has created wealth. I can’t find any.
May 15, 2009 - 10:30 am 30. GettingOut:This is the underlying problem, government programs squander wealth or prevent it’s creation. Some are truly necessary, but they are few and far between. So by taxing and spending ever larger amounts we piss away more and more of our wealth. And this is called progress?
The simple fact is that businesspeople create wealth and jobs, governments largely get in the way and steal money.
My solution is I’m moving my money out of the country. Let the IRS try to find it.
May 15, 2009 - 10:42 am 31. deguello:TO ALL (except the libtards) Relax!Don’t worry:be happy;if all these catastrophic things come to pass,it will be the end of libtardom in the US;think Chile! A great nation that experienced a brief infection of Marxoid Bananaism,but returned to the ranks of the first world after suitable public sanitation measures were taken.
May 15, 2009 - 11:02 am 32. winout:The government should primarily be a defensive team. The premable states “provide the common defense and promote the general welfare.” Not promote defense and provide welfare.
May 15, 2009 - 11:03 am 33. The Historian:UTOPIAN DREAMERS ARE NOT LEADERS
They lack common sense and the common touch.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/05/green-jobs-are-really-about-get-rich.html
May 15, 2009 - 11:24 am 34. jonnyrancher:Until 1994, Democrats had held the House of Representatives for 40 years (and, with it, the federal purse-strings.)
I don’t believe Dems were ever upset about the war. I believe they were only upset because they didn’t have the checkbook.
May 15, 2009 - 11:52 am 35. Pastor of Muppets:14. AThinkingPerson: And your point is? TeleBama has passed an outrageous budget, bailed out and rebailed out automakers, banks and now insurance companies and you’re still looking BACKWARD to blame Bush? Please. I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused the auto/bank/insurance bailouts and eventual takeover with a nice windfall for the unions. I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused TeleBama to write that tragic budget full of pork and ACORN payoffs that will triple the deficit Bush left? I’m interested to know how Bush/Cheney caused TeleBama to take race relations back 20 years or more? “
Nice rant, racist. You all claim that you hate the president because of his policies, but it’s quite clear from posts like this that you’re all just like Rush Limbaugh – you’re just sick to your stomach that we have a black president, but are too much of a coward to come out and say it. At least in the old days, you knew who the racists were because they had the guts to level with you about it. Today, it’s a bunch of sissies ranting about ACORN, screaming about forced reparations, wailing about minority lending being the cause of the economic crisis. It used to be that you hid underneath sheets. Now you just hide underneath language.
If anyone is setting back race relations, its people like you, the modern day cowards who lie in public about your bigotry for fear of being branded as the pathetic white-supremacists that you are, but then go home and unleash your pent up hate on your wives and children, perpetuating the next generation of racism in the safety of your filthy homes.
May 15, 2009 - 11:55 am 36. anton:Ahhh PoM shows his/it’s/her true trollish colors, no reasoning, no refutation, just bile and prejudiced invective.
Can’t disagree with Obama without being a racist?
Please explain how blowing $3,000,000,000,000 will save the economy. Once that is done someone might think you are something other than a Kos troll.
May 15, 2009 - 12:06 pm 37. anton:Oh-Oh I said colors…….aahhhhh! now I’m a racist!!!!
May 15, 2009 - 12:07 pm 38. anton:Now maybe we can get the President to stop mentioning the race question every time he speaks. It would be less on everybody’s mind if it wasn’t popping up in so many of his speeches. When he makes a point of veiwing the world through the lens of color/race it is hard to ignore.
May 15, 2009 - 12:13 pm 39. shaui-jan:o.k. o.k.! i wasn’t offended until you said filthy homes.that is slanderous!
May 15, 2009 - 12:30 pm 40. J. Rockford:I blame the mainstream media for most of it. First they destroyed Bush and created the Bush-Deranged people. They convinced the majority that things were bad and we needed “change”, despite a good economy and no terrorist attacks for six years, and victory in Iraq. They enabled the Democrats to gain control of Congress, who in short order caused the housing debacle and tanked the stock market. Then they achieved their dream: a black President. Hillary was quickly jettisoned. Only by their efforts could a man with no executive experience and such a shady and vague past have been elected President. The market crash –caused by the Democratic-controlled Congress — was perfectly timed for their radical leftist to get elected and be able to spend as much as he wanted on whatever he wanted. By the time the public wises up, it will be too late. The economy will be in shambles, taxes sky-high, hyper-inflation will make the money no good, and we will be so far in debt, we won’t be able to recover. Even though I blame the media most of all, I still hope those who voted for him suffer the most.
May 15, 2009 - 12:46 pm 41. Pastor of Muppets:When you make the statement that electing the first black president in the history of our nation – a nation, I might add, in which 60 years ago a black person could not even vote, and were frequently victims of brutal crimes for which justice was never served – how is a rational person supposed to interpret such a statement as anything other than racist?
May 15, 2009 - 1:13 pm 42. Brian H:*Your asterisked correction notice would be more impressive if you actually did the correction!
May 15, 2009 - 1:14 pm 43. Moogie:*0.004 = 0.4%.
*Capisce yet?
*You seem to be having problems …
“The government doesn’t have any money. Only people have money. The government only gets money by putting its hand in your pocket and taking it out.” – Milton Friedman
May 15, 2009 - 1:17 pm 44. Sapwolf:I am waiting for the WSJ Op-Ed by none other than…
Piper Palin
on running a business and how Obama could take some tips from the 7-year old’s life experiences, cause O-man never did any honest work in his life.
May 15, 2009 - 1:19 pm 45. AThinkingPerson:Pastor of Muppets: You’ve used the term racist too much. Call me that all day long as it seems to be a new hobby for you because it has lost not only it’s sting but it’s meaning.
If hating TeleBama’s policies means I’m a racist in your corner of the sewer, well, that says more about you than me.
You voted skin color and I voted issues. Easy enough now to see clearly.
May 15, 2009 - 1:42 pm 46. deguello:14 A THINKINGPERSON ,RE#35 PASTOR of MUPPETS. Like most liberals,the reverend cannot engage in any type of political discussion without using the word racist;it’s inappropriate,stale slanderous,but it seems to act as a kind of substitute orgasm for the average lib,whose dating of feminazis has compromised his virility and deprived him of normal sexual release. This is why they love the Ohole so much;any criticism of this affirmative action marxoid slug?clown is a great excuse for the wretch to shout ” racist!” and get off. I’d suggest a therapist, but Libtard behavior is so much fun to watch!
May 15, 2009 - 2:00 pm 47. Pastor of Muppets:AThinkingPerson: “Pastor of Muppets: You’ve used the term racist too much. Call me that all day long as it seems to be a new hobby for you because it has lost not only it’s sting but it’s meaning.
If hating TeleBama’s policies means I’m a racist in your corner of the sewer, well, that says more about you than me.
You voted skin color and I voted issues. Easy enough now to see clearly.”
Hating President Obamas policies does not make you racist. Blaming the first black president for engendering racism is racist.
You can squirm around the truth all you want, bucko, but at the end of the day there is no denying that your party, the GOP, has made an industry out of doctored photos of watermelons on the White House lawn, of calling our president an Arab terrorist, of claiming that President Obama’s election was nothing more than American not being able to stand up and say no to a black man. This is the party that distributed Obama welfare bucks and CDs with “Barack the Magic Negro” songs, and it’s the party that smeared John McCain in the 2000 Republican Primary with robocalls about his supposedly illegitimate child of color. This is the party that blames black and Hispanic people’s pursuit of homes as the cause for the economic crisis.
May 15, 2009 - 2:09 pm 48. Dave Goin:Deguello
-TO ALL (except the libtards) Relax!Don’t worry:be happy;if all these catastrophic things come to pass,it will be the end of libtardom in the US;think Chile! A great nation that experienced a brief infection of Marxoid Bananaism,but returned to the ranks of the first world after suitable public sanitation measures were taken.
Suitable public sanitation is and apt description of what we need in every western nation. A great socialist disappearing trick.
May 15, 2009 - 2:19 pm 49. Dave Goin:14 AThinkingPerson.
Whoaaa, did that ever spin old MOPy into dementia!
I can almost hear the gnashing of teeth and rending of clothing!!
My 4 year old son has those same episodes but usually a smack on the backside no snacks will calm him.
Jesus! And nitwits like MOPy get to vote.
May 15, 2009 - 2:29 pm 50. Pastor of Muppets:I just can’t stay away from this site, the penis envy you all have towards Barack Obama is nothing short of hilarious. As I’ve said before, maybe if you can just appreciate Barack’s glory, you won’t need to cling to your guns so much, and may actually understand what an Obama inspired tingle on your leg feels like.
May 15, 2009 - 2:42 pm 51. anton:Obama’s Glory?
What would that be?
$3,000,000,000,000 down the pipe?
What price glory?
May 15, 2009 - 3:36 pm 52. cubedweller:Billslayer, you’re absolutely right. And we said nothing in the last 8 years when we should have spoken up.
May 15, 2009 - 3:47 pm 53. anton:52. cubedweller: Speak for yourself, I bitched like mad, W was right about the GWOT but his social programs bordered an madness.
May 15, 2009 - 3:58 pm 54. Moogie:PoM: “the penis envy you all have towards Barack Obama is nothing short of hilarious. As I’ve said before, maybe if you can just appreciate Barack’s glory, you won’t need to cling to your guns so much, and may actually understand what an Obama inspired tingle on your leg feels like.”
First off: LOLOL! You crack me up!
Second off: I don’t have penis envy. Maybe a little man-boob envy, I admit.
Third off: I don’t own a gun. I don’t even know how to shoot one. Admittedly, I DO have religion. Think I’ll cling to that.
Fourth off: Does an Obama tingle down the leg feel anything like an Obama tinkle down the leg? Because I really don’t want him doing either one of those things to my leg.
You know those bumper stickers that were a rip-off of Watterson’s Calvin character from “Calvin and Hobbes” tinkling on something (usually with an evil expression on his face)? Well, transplant Obama’s face for Calvin’s, make the object he’s tinkling on the United States, and voila!
I’m just sayin’…
May 15, 2009 - 4:55 pm 55. Good Ole Charlie:Hey PoM:
Obama is technically a mulatto: half white and half black.
May 15, 2009 - 4:58 pm 56. goy:Don’t blame me, blame the OED…
Bye-the-bye, just what is your race? You show yours and I’ll show mine. Works with penises too…
- I just can’t stay away from this site, the penis envy you all have…
I think we’ve just witnessed the birth of a new paraphilia: purported penis envy envy.
- …if you can just appreciate Barack’s glory…
LOL!!! Ok. Now it’s clear you’re just a parody poster.
May 15, 2009 - 5:00 pm 57. AThinkingPerson:Re #50 PoM: “and may actually understand what an Obama inspired tingle on your leg feels like.”
(I know he lobbed a softball but I just can’t pass it up.)
Uh, Pastor, that’s piss running down your leg not a TeleBama tingle. Yet another reason to question the presence of the liberal brain.
I know, I know…I’m racist for mentioning TeleBama and piss in the same sentence. You got me again.
May 15, 2009 - 6:38 pm 58. tanstaafl:Welcome to the Banana States of America
Socialism Illustrated
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
~ George Bernard Shaw
May 15, 2009 - 7:24 pm 59. john from cinncinatti:master of puppets: suppose that Obama was all white instead of half, would his policies be viable? what if he was a white and female. would you consider me a male chauvinist if i called her a shopaholic? penis envy? stereotyping or what. now the big o is co-opting phrases from the right just like he did Mccain in the campaign. “our grand kids are going to have to pay”. since you accuse of racism here’s my share. what we are going to get is AFRICAN style government in all that it entails. inept,corrupt, self serving and tribal.
May 15, 2009 - 7:43 pm 60. fred:About half the comments here on PJM now resemble the viewpoints you’ll find over at Huffpost, MoveOn, and DailyKos. We know who the culprits are. The other comments, if they were posted over at those sites, would be removed and the people who post them banned.
I think we’re cutting the Leftards way too much slack here. They would never suffer us this way on their turf.
May 15, 2009 - 9:01 pm 61. paul_unalaska:PoM, you should flirt with the changing of your screen name to ‘Sir Identity Politics’.
Racist. Call me racist when we institute a whites only college. A whites only magazine. A whites only college fund. A White Caucus. The White Entertainment Television channel. A special interest group benefitting and receiving Government dollars for whites only. Equal employment opportunity BS and college admissions for QUALIFIED, INTELLIGENT people instead of playing the PC dumbing down card.
Wait a sec, those are all institutions (except the last comment above) contributing to the black population. I believe the racist shoe fits on..
Heck, even liberal CNN had an excerpt whereas schools are having, ‘Segregated assemblies’ with the school’s black and hispanic students only. The reason? Low test scores, fights, problematic attendance, etc., Not to fret, the principals and other school officials responsible for the segregation are minorities. Good thing, for if these officials were white, then they’d be ra… nothing to see here!
Apparently a few people bringing up color sets in motion that all people other than black are racist. A sad, narrow minded conclusion you’ve founded.
Again, PoM, continue throwing out the term, ‘Racist’ if it gets you through the night. Placating blame away from one’s own disappointments, short comings is evidence of a weak mind. That’s universal, for every color..
May 15, 2009 - 9:57 pm 62. furious_a:…[you]…may actually understand what an Obama inspired tingle on your leg feels like.”
You mean, it feels like Chris Matthews fondling himself whenever Babmi-O takes the podium? Ick.
Bambi-O, Barbie-Head and America’s Grandmother aren’t going to turn the US into Argentina, they’re going to turn it into Zimbabwe.
May 15, 2009 - 10:40 pm 63. ic:If you have to say it, say it right: the People’s Banana Republic of America where we aspire to our Dear Leader’s ideal: From each (such as Chrysler’s cowed non-TARP bondholders) according to his ability (to stand up to bullying), to each (such as the UAW union bosses) according to his wants.
May 16, 2009 - 12:20 am 64. John Costello:POM — Zimbabwe also has a black president. Obama’s problem isn’t the color of his skin but his party’s absolute control of the budgetary process. The American people bought a pig in a poke, and now we’re all going to pay for it.
May 16, 2009 - 12:48 am 65. PhantomMut:I’m assuming Pastor is a parody poster. If not, he’s even funnier.
May 16, 2009 - 1:14 am 66. PWT:We’ve been had. PoM has been yanking everybody’s chain.
Hilarious.
He is kinda like a double troll, like a double agent.
Again, hilarious. That Matthew’s moment of tingle down the leg.
And I really liked Moogie’s tinkle down the leg.
great stuff guys!
May 16, 2009 - 3:32 am 67. Skye:Hating President Obamas policies does not make you racist. Blaming the first black president for engendering racism is racist.
Problem with this neat little accusation, is that you(not me) elected the first BI-RACIAL president. The racist card doesn’t work here – and neither does our economy with O’s plan.
May 16, 2009 - 5:04 am 68. Chester White:If you are a business owner, lay off Obama voters first.
Of course, they are likely to be among your dumbest employees anyway, so it makes sense.
May 16, 2009 - 5:11 am 69. tanstaafl:Racism ? Many loudmouthed and vociferous blacks are working to keep it alive and well as we speak.
The racism espoused by Jeremiah Wright’s version of Black Liberation Theology goes hand in hand with the teachings of the Black Power movement, the Muslim Brotherhood and the anti-capitalist, pro Marxist teachings of Bill Ayers’ Underground. Promoting the notion of separation between groups of people, most specifically in America “blacks” and “whites”, is central to Black Liberation Theology and is central to achieving Billy’s ideological agenda.
Any contemporary black leader, from JWright to Louis Farrakhan, who teaches hatred and separation from the larger society is, himself, a thoroughly despicable racist. A preacher who preys on his congregation’s emotions to teach that the white man intentionally inflicted AIDS on the black population is beyond contempt.
Barack Obama, in his soul of souls, has a lot of work to do to achieve anything resembling the post-racial ideal espoused by Martin Luther King.
May 16, 2009 - 6:16 am 70. Dem blinders on, check:“As a side observation, Bush/Cheney, two supposed conservatives, had opportunities to solve many of these economic problems…”
Except that Bush *did* try to stop the Social Security nightmare and the Dems broke into their ritual kabuki “there’s nothing to fix, the Repubs are just anti-(insert favored lib victim group here)” dance, just like they did with the Frannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacle. Bush saw the blindingly obvious problems and made the effort, even with the certain knowledge that it was an uphill battle, which is what true leaders do. The Dems care about power and power only, end of story.
Jeez, the more time goes on, the more I miss Bush. And Cheney.
May 16, 2009 - 7:26 am 71. Stephen:@Pastor of Muppets:
Your assumption that racism underlies the criticisms here is a perfect example of hyperbole that ultimately denatures the invective you intend. Look up any standard definition of the term racist and you will be hard pressed, based on that definition, to make the case that those you accuse deserve the accusation you make – except to yourself and those sharing your fevered imagination.
Your history is a spotty as your vocabulary: Blacks could vote in much of the country 60 years ago. Jim Crow laws, to which you refer, were many and varied in their application throughout the country.
My suggestion to you, I’m confident you’ll ignore, is to grow up. Hurling invective where it’s not deserved, behind the anonymity of a pseudonym, is the act of an immature coward.
May 16, 2009 - 7:48 am 72. Self-hating Boomer:FWIW, from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:
That is all.
May 16, 2009 - 8:04 am 73. Nahanni:Here is a “fun” little visual aid for you…
http://www.slate.com/id/2216238/
First watch the animation in full then do the following.
1. Take the map back to the beginning, January 2007. Hover your cursor on different counties, it will tell you the jobs gained/lost in 2006.
2. Step through the map on a month by month basis. Note the fluctuations and patterens.
3. Step through and stop at January 2008 for a moment, then click back and forth between it and January 2007. Note the differences. Remember that the Presidential campaign began to ramp up in January 2008.
4. Step through and stop at July 2008 and then compare it to July 2007. Note that in July 2008 that it was apparent that the Democrats were going to nominate Obama.
5.Step through and stop at September 2008 and note the beginning of the hemorrhaging of jobs. Remember back to 2008 when Obama, the Democrats and the MSM gave us one of the biggest examples of the “politics of personal destruction” with their vicious attacks on Sarah Palin and the increasing reports of voter registration fraud being committed by Democratic party allies such as ACORN. It became quite obvious that the Democrats and their allies were going to win and were not going to stop at anything to ensure they did.
6. November 2008. Obama wins and the Democrats win the legislative branch but on this map almost the entire country is “red” with massive job losses. That is when many business owners who were wise and actually listened to what Obama and the Democrats were planning on doing decided to close their doors and get out while the getting out was good. They knew what was coming out of the Marxists in the Democratic party and the Marxist who was going to be in the White House. This carries on into December as business are shutting down in order to get everything done before the tax year ends. I personally know of at least 6 business owners that did this and they know many others who also did so.
7. March 2009. The map is awash with red. Even those business owners who had bought into the “hope and change” crap are beginning to see exactly what that “hope and change” is and it spells their doom. They are now trying to close up shop and get out while we are still under the Bush tax laws because they know that the only way for the Democrats to fund their massive spending is by massive tax hikes on everything. This means that not only are businesses going to be taxed and regulated to death but it also means that no one will have any “disposable income” to buy their products. I have to laugh at the Ford and Chevy spots that make a point that “credit is available” and that “if you lose your job they will make your payments for you for a year”. What they are not grasping is that us “regular folks” can feel the storm coming and are battening down the hatches as best we can and the last thing any of us are going to do is take on more debt or even spend one dime more then we have to.
8. Lastly click on January 2007 and then on March 2009. Do it a couple of times. That is a graphic illustration of “hope and change” for you.
May 16, 2009 - 8:06 am 74. The Fop:The less prevalent racism, sexism, and homophobia becomes, the more the liberals accuse people of being racists, sexists, and homophobes over the slightest thing that they disagree with.
Imagine if we lived in a country where citizens stopped committing serious crimes. At a certain point, people who work for law enforcement would be so afraid of being laid off from their jobs, they’d have to start making jay walking and illegal U-turns a capital offense, punishable by 25 years to life prison sentences, in order to justify their continued employment.
This is exactly the mindset of the modern day liberal, whose whole entire sense of superiority and intellectual laziness is dependent on the need to believe that half the population are hateful, knuckle dragging cavemen. This dishonest house of cards is the foundation of the modern day Democrat party. It’s no wonder they attract lying scum like Pelosi and Obama.
May 16, 2009 - 8:11 am 75. tanstaafl:Recall that Barack Obama finally disowned the …”guy he could no more disown than my own father”…when JWright spewed about Hillary during the primaries.
The echoes of Cone’s (Black Liberation) theology bleed through the now infamous, anti-Hilary excerpt by Rev. Wright. Clinton is among the oppressing class (”rich white people”) and is incapable of understanding oppression (”ain’t never been called a n-gg-r”) but Jesus knows what it was like because he was “a poor black man” oppressed by “rich white people.”
Black Liberation Theology actually encourages a victim mentality among blacks…Victimology…is the adoption of victimhood as the core of one’s identity.
Here are the contributions that JWright & today’s black racists confer on their followers. It is its own form of enslavement.
1. First, victimology condones weakness in failure. Victimology tacitly stamps approval on failure, lack of effort, and criminality.
2. Second, victimology hampers progress because, from the outset, it focuses attention on obstacles. For example, in Black liberation Theology, the focus is on the impediment of black freedom in light of the Goliath of white racism.
3. Third, victimology keeps racism alive because many whites are constantly painted as racist with no evidence provided.
Black Liberation theologians James Cone and Cornel West have worked diligently to embed Marxist thought into the black church since the 1970s…Black Liberation Theology, originally intended to help the black community, may have actually hurt many blacks by promoting racial tension, victimology, and Marxism which ultimately leads to more oppression. As the failed “War on Poverty” has exposed, the best way to keep the blacks perpetually enslaved to government as “daddy” is to preach victimology, Marxism, and to seduce blacks into thinking that upward mobility is someone else’s responsibility in a free society.
The Marxist Roots of Black Liberation Theology
May 16, 2009 - 9:06 am 76. adrienne:The government should be like a checking account that we the people USE to write checks to pay for our expenses as a society. The wealth we the people create gets deposited into the checking account via taxes and we the people should determine what we buy with it as well as how much we deposit into it. Instead the bankers/bureaucrats who manage the logistics of the checking account have taken control and are confiscating wealth via the force of the law and are deciding what expenses they want to pay. They are bouncing checks left and right and complaining that we the people are not giving them enough wealth to pay the checks. It is time we the people took back control of the checking account and balanced our financial mess by eliminating unnecessary spending.
May 16, 2009 - 5:37 pm 77. Wiredog:Master of Puppets – If calling someone racist is all you got, then you got nothing.
May 17, 2009 - 1:11 pm 78. deguello:#77 WIREDOG:See my post#46regarding the psychosexual basis of libtard compulsion to shout;”racist”,at anyone who disagrees with the Ohole.MOP needs therapy.
May 17, 2009 - 6:33 pm 79. G Alston:#20 — My solution would have been tax cuts and a reduction in all government spending. That would have restored confidence and stimulated the economy.
I’d have taken $500 billion and directed that the USA build 750-1000 GW worth of nuclear power plants — yesterday.
We have an energy problem. Energy = prosperity. Solve the energy problem and you solve most things.
You don’t get to prosperity merely by cutting taxes any more than you get there by taxing your way there. Investment also creates jobs, once that don’t export.
Once the plants are built and operating, THEN cut taxes and let it rip. Or rather than cut taxes, direct that energy is delivered pretty much at cost + maintenance. $50 for your electric bill vs $200 has the same effect as a tax cut.
I reckon that I’d also stop all subsidies to wind and solar power and use that to jolt NASA; they would be directed to solve how to get cheap access to space. Why? Solve that and you get spaceborne solar as energy supply. That’s a lot of jobs. Good paying US jobs. Not stuff that gets sent to Thailand.
I’d probably also invest another big chunk into DOE and direct them to build smaller reactor systems suitable for civilian shipping. We know how to do this. The Navy doesn’t seem to have problems. More jobs.
The great republican tradition is **not** reduced spending. Never has been. Everything from interstates to the computers you’re using to whine about government was SMART spending or even a bit of an increase.
***
On the other hand, this is a conservative site, one that takes pride in specialising in “no”, promoting conspiracy theory sideshows, and fostering a “conservative” belief system that demands the aforementiond mythical small government abutted to a social agenda that would make Stalin blush. Apparently a great number of you seem to have a morbid fascination with whether or not gays marry or Mary Rottencrotch down the road has an abortion: the very fabric of life as we know it will certainly be torn asunder.
And… oh, never mind. (Hey… is that a pod by my bed? Yawn.)
[wakes up] I. Am. One. Of. You. Now.
Lower taxes! Smaller government! I have a funny name for Obama!
May 17, 2009 - 11:58 pm 80. Cybergeezer:Lower taxes! Smaller government! I have a funny name for Obama!
Lower taxes! Smaller government! I have a funny name for Obama!
60. fred:
May 19, 2009 - 7:45 am 81. fred:Yea! It’s like PJM has been infested with roaches; Needs to be tented. But, even so, roaches have a way of coming back.
With all the genetic engineering, roaches and Democrats could be made extinct. But many people have made a good living off of roach extermination. And what would we do for entertainment and ridiculous examples of intelligence if there were no Democrats?
Cybergeezer,
Because I was once a Marxist (1977-1987) I know just about every twist in every argument and worldview template they bring embedded in their strung together talking points. Quite frankly, the reason why I don’t have at them is because it would accomplish nothing. They are not here to really learn. They are here to show the flag for their side, dump their stuff here, and move along. I know their “debate” tactics, which largely consist of misdirection and ad hominem.
May 19, 2009 - 8:25 pm