One Hundred Forty: President Chicken Little

BO has been criss-crossing the country for the past few weeks lying about the impact of slightly reducing the rate of growth of federal spending.  In addition to his blathering, he has ordered his cabinet chiefs and chiefettes to do the same.  It seems that the only segment of the American population who has paid any attention to all this lying is the national media, and even they seem unconvinced.  The securities markets, the real estate markets, and the economy in general are also seemingly unconvinced.  Is it possible that the national consciousness has finally gotten wise to BO's act?  Let's hope so.

One Hundred Thirty Nine: BO Can't Compromise

Last night I saw a news snippet of BO addressing a group of state governors.  BO was campaigning to prevent the $85B reduction in the rate of growth of government spending, also bizarrely called a "sequester."  BO was telling the govs that the situation just required "compromise," and that he, BO, had already demonstrated his willingness to compromise.  This willingness, BO said, was manifest in his previous offers and actions over the past 4 four years.  Even by Washington standard's, this is the mother of all whoppers.  But as George Costanza used to say, "It's not a lie if you believe it."  And BO really does seem to believe his own BS. 

If BO really had shown the tiniest bit willingness to compromise, our recovery from 2008-2009 would be off to the races.  But in fact BO does not want compromise.  He wants a relentless continuation of federal government growth to redistribute private wealth.

One Hundred Thirty Eight: Still Trying Facebook

A couple of years on, I am still trying to figure out the value of FB.  Now that it's a public company with a current market cap of some $70B, it's pretty hard to discount the reality of FB as a presence in the lives of individuals, especially those under 40 years old.  And of course the fact that corporate entities are also "persons" in the FB realm is another reason to take FB seriously.  But what redeeming social or economic benefit accrues from the bazillions of hours spent by people revealing every idiotic thought or image on their respective pages? 

In the past few days I have spent a couple of hours Facebooking.  After trying to make sense of what I encountered, I returned to read a few chapters of Moby Dick.  Comparing the two experiences, it strikes me that I have retained much more from Moby than FB.

One Hundred Thirty Seven: Lots of Data But No Communication

I have been an avid writer all of my life.  It started I suppose with my parents forcing me to write "thank you" notes when I received a dollar or two for a birthday or some other occasion.  Somehow, I learned how to write (and speak) succinctly, which is a talent and skill I wish was more widely practiced. 

The younger crowd in business today has grown up with instant and constant information resulting in tsunamis of data.  Email, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube - 24/7 connectivity, but it seems to me very little communication.  In a recent transaction for the sale of a house, I received an average of 20 emails per day, which could easily have been reduced to one single email or telephone call.  The clients and the realtor were creating blizzards of messages almost one letter at a time.  The point is that with the ability to spew out information at will, individuals feel compelled to take advantage of that ability, usually without much if any thought.  It's just too damn easy to empty one's brain into the airwaves without thinking.  Perhaps as computers get smarter they will develop the kind of protection a good secretary gives her boss.  She serves at a check valve to make sure what he tries to send is wise.

One Hundred Thirty Six: The Stupid Just Keeps On Coming For Repubs

Eery news article I see about the professional Republicans indicates they are shocked, shocked! mind you, that BO is articulating a left-liberal agenda for his second term, and picking out a team of true believers, liars, scoundrels, and others Democrats to carry it out.  What the hell do you expect?  Of course he's going to move the country as far toward socialism as he possibly can.  That is who he is and what he believes.  The last time we had a president as committed to his own beliefs was Reagan. 

Personally, I believe that the ideas of BO are as dangerous as the ideas of Stalin or Hitler or Pol Pot.   If the professional Repubs actually believed in what they claim (smaller government) they would stand up to BO and win or lose like men, instead of the pussies they appear to be.

One Hundred Thirty Five: Why Republicans Are Even Dumber Than Democrats

In this title I refer to Republican leaders.  The most recent stupid thing the Speaker and his minions have done is totally cave on the debt ceiling issue, and this apparently because BO is portraying Repubs as heartless, especially on guns and money.  Instead of forcing the issue on spending, Repubs are apparently going to punt for at least three months.  This is Strike Three.   Strike One was the first debt ceiling debate, where Repubs settled for the "Sequester," which somehow turned into the "Fiscal Cliff," and Strike Two.

For the life of me, I don't know how any American citizen with even a pea-sized brain can argue against or not support term limits.

One Hundred Thirty Four: When We Went Over The Cliff

Grover Norquist is right:  the "fiscal cliff" is just a totally arbitrary date.  I actually think we went over the cliff (if you want to call it that) in a two step process.  The first step was when the Supremes upheld Obamacare.  That greased the runway for the second step, which was the reelection of BO.  After these two steps we are guaranteed to have government growth on a scale not seen since the creation of Medicare.  What all of this means is simply that more of workers output will be consumed by government, and government will be responsible for providing more services to individuals, which government does quite badly.  But this is what people seem to want.  They will continue to want it until it hurts so much that they demand something different.