Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economics. Show all posts

Detroit's Promise Zone Goes It Alone

Detroit Promise Zone by deadrepublicanparty.wordpress.com
Can Detroit be saved without Obama? Image via DeadRepublicanParty
January 29, 2014 - Detroit. Do I even have to explain this to you? Detroit is synonymous with "dead zone," "ghost town," and "failure."

The Motor City is all but dead, but it still has a pulse and that gives some hope of some kind of recovery. Is that possible?

Michigan's state government will work to make it so, of course, and have even if Barack Obama has shown no interest in helping them -- and even if their prescription for recovery is flawed.

On January 9, Obama unveiled his first five “promise zones” in a White House press conference. "These zones are pockets of the country that will receive comprehensive federal assistance after being especially hard hit by the recession," reported Forbes. "There will ultimately be 20 zones across the country." Surprisingly, Detroit was not one of Obama's first five promise zones. 

Atlas Shrugged and John Galt Went To Hollywood

Watch the Official Atlas Shrugged Movie Trailer (below). Atlas Shrugged Part 1 opens in theaters April 15th, 2011. Finally! For those of you who have not read the book "Atlas Shrugged," you still have time before you see the film. The book combines a magnificent love story with author Ayn Rand's economic and political philosphy, with dashes of adventure and action thrown in to boot. Atlas Shrugged is one of the most influential books of the 20th Century. It's influence continues to grow. Why? Watch another video for a good explanation. One of the main protagonists, John Galt, is a mysterious man who moves mountains from the darkest corners. His speech is one of the high points of the book, and stands by itself as an anti-collectivist treatise. Listen to a reading of it. RELATED: The Lesson of Hank Rearden Opinion-Forum.com It's Ayn Rand's World, We Just Live In It CNB Phil Donahue Interviews Ayn Rand CNB

Detroit's Mayor Covering For City's Incompetent Fire Response

The horrible fires that have swept through parts of Detroit recently were natural, says Mayor Dave Bing. He called the fires a natural disaster. Perhaps Mayor Bing is lying to cover up the fact that Detroit's fire department has long been understaffed and under-equipped, or maybe he is trying to squeeze as much federal funding as he can. Or, maybe, both. The bottom line is that Bing seems to be playing politics with a disaster that has destroyed homes and businesses in an already depressed city. Associated Press reported that Mayor Bing called the blazes natural. He "defended a stretched fire department Wednesday and its response to what he termed 'a natural disaster,' after wind-whipped flames destroyed dozens of occupied and abandoned homes across the city." Bing, according to AP, "said firefighters confronted conditions that were not manmade' starting Tuesday afternoon. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph forced flames to jump from house to house, eventually encompassing 85 homes and garages — many abandoned — across several neighborhoods." The Detroit News reported that Mayor Bing "said very little could have been done to prevent" the fires, "which required emergency help from five surrounding communities, engulfed at least 85 structures throughout the city. Bing said every community except southwest Detroit was affected." Amazingly, Bing went so far as to say that "You can never have enough resources when something like that happens," and "You can't plan for something like that." The cause of the lastest fires, actually, is still being investigated. Bing, therefore, is speaking out of turn. He doesn't know, nobody yet knows, what caused the fires. One thing that does seem certain, though, it the cause of the poor response by the Detroit Fire Department. Nobody blames the DFD itself, nor any of its brave firefighters. Rather, the city's inept government is to blame for having whittled down the DFD to an inadequate manpower level. MyFox Detroit interviewed Captain Dan McNamara, the president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association. Capt. McNamara had some harsh words for Detroit's government, and he told Fox that the CFD is severely understaffed. According to a September 8 report on Fox, "the city needs 200-300 more firefighters to properly service and keep citizens safe." Fox asked Capt. McNamara for his assessment last night's response by the fire department. He said (emphasis added), "Abmissal. Unfortunately, this is something that we have been telling the mayors, the city council and our fire administration for almost a decade now. We've been diminished to the point that we're so concerned about our firefighters safety, but no one's listening to us. We're down probably 200-300 firefighters. Of the 65 fire companies we have left in the city, 8-10 a day are closed which leaves giant holes. And fire fighting hasn't changed. It's about weight and response time and the amount of people you send there. And when we don't get to a fire in time, and fires can double in size every 2-3 minutes, we have a very serious situation on our hands." Only a fool would believe Mayor Bing when he says that "very little could have been done to prevent" the fires, and that "You can never have enough resources when something like that happens," and "You can't plan for something like that." Perhaps Mayor Bing is a complete idiot. More likely, he's hoping that most of his constituents are idiots. Only a fool would believe those words. The whole point of having a fire department in the first place is to be prepared for potential disaster. The mere act of instituting a fire department involves "planning for something like that." If Capt. McNamara is to be believed, plenty could have been done to ensure that Detroit had "enough resources when something like that happens." It doesn't matter whether a fire is started by an arsonist or a lightning bolt. It starts quickly and with no warning. Manmade or natural, the fire spreads to nearby buildings at the same rate. For Mayor Bing to excuse his city's years-long emasculation of their fire department by blaming nature is inexcusable. We'll give Mayor Bing a pass when he says that some fires are not preventable. Arson, for example: Nobody can predict when somebody will sprinkle gasoline around a warehouse and set it ablaze, but Mayor Bing would have us believe that "you can never have enough resources when something like that happens." The fires in Detroit were whipped by high winds, which certainly compounded the situation, but Capt. McNamara hinted that the wind should not be used as an excuse by Mayor Bing. "We live in Michigan," Capt. McNamara said, "We have always handled the weather. Sure, this was the perfect storm. But it's a day that we warned them that was coming. We don't have enough of a response. We don't have enough firefighters to adequately get to every one of our issues." Mayor Bing seems to be generating enough wind lately to fan a lot of flames, and tempers are flaring in Detroit. While it's true that Detroit's firefighters "confronted conditions that were not manmade" (dry weather, high winds), the conditions that caused CFD's poor response were entirely manmade. The real scandal in all of this is Detroit's pitiful economic condition, which has contributed heavily to the lousy economy of Michigan. The lousy economy of Michigan can be blamed directly on the financially corrupt and economically ignorant policies of that state's Democrat leadership. The lack of funds is the primary cause of the Detroit Fire Department being 200-300 firefighters short of where it should be. That, in turn, is a direct cause of the fires spreading as far and as quickly as they have. Consequently, lost lives, jobs, dreams and property in these latest Detroit fires can be blamed directly on the Michigan Democratic Party. RELATED: Report: Michigan slips in child well-being ranking Detroit News Michigan's Latest Economic Numbers Confirm Failure of Status Quo MacKinac Center Michigan's unemployment rate will top 15% through 2011 AnnArbor.com FY2011 School Aid Fund Budget: A Day Late and A Few Hundred Million Dollars Short Citizens Research Council of Michigan

Mommy, What's a Commie?

Most of us hear the words every day, but few of us really understand their meaning. "Capitalism," "communism" and "socialism" are, after all, economics terms. Most Americans understand economics about as well as they understand string theory. Even so, every one of us is as directely affected by economics as we are by the weather. Justin Williams wrote an informative post at NetRight Nation recently, called "Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism." Those terms are frequently used on this blog and on thousands of others. Williams's post is a good read and makes a nice primer for those wishing to know more about the meaning of those words and the three major systems to which they refer. Here's an excerpt: While the debates rage on with health care, cap-and-trade, and the overall role of government in the average American’s life, economic societal terms like “capitalism,” “socialism,” and “communism” often get careless bandied. Many on the right feel like America is on the move towards “socialism” and many on the left believe that “capitalism” is the root of all social ills. The only way to set the record straight is to understand the precise definitions of these terms and how are they being used in today’s rhetoric. Read more (corrected link)... Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

EU President Calls Obamanomics "Way to Hell"

The whole world will love us after Obama becomes president? HA! The world is laughing at the fool Barack Obama and his idiot Treasury Secretary, too. PARIS — The European Union’s crisis of leadership during the economic downturn was thrown into sharp relief on Wednesday, as the current president of the 27-nation bloc labeled President Obama’s emergency stimulus package “a way to hell” that will “undermine the stability of the global financial market.” Full Story at New York Times... RELATED: Tim Geithner, "Gigantic Fool" Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Cool Stuff...

Tim Geithner, "Gigantic Fool"

One of the things Liberals and Democrats loved to repeat ad nauseum for eight years was the myth that the whole world hated the United States because George W. Bush was president. I'm not going to get into a discussion about how stupid that was, as simply demonstrated by the alliances that continued to flourish, the trade that continued to transact, and the millions of new immigrants (legal and illegal) that continued to pour into The Great Satan during Bush's tenure. But how is the Left treating the fact that much of the world thinks Obama's Treasury Secretary, tax cheat Tim Geithner, is a fool? Golly, not a word. We're not hearing them say, "Oh, the world thinks we're stupid because of Tim Geithner." Instead, we hear folks such as Paul Keating, Australia’s 24th Prime Minister (1991 to 1996) refer to Geithner as "a gigantic fool." Keating accuses Geithner of tarnishing the reputation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), of screwing up Asian economies and even a leader to lose power. "Gigantic fool" might be putting mildly. Tim Geithner is a dangerous idiot. The full article about Keating's remarks about Tim Geithner can be found at The Syndey Morning Herald's website. Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Cool Stuff...

Obama's Economic Suicide

Barack Obama is a Democrat, and like most Democrats, he just doesn't understand the realities of economics in a democracy. Unlike most Democrats, however, he seems hell bent on destroying the economic system we have now. Although the current system has a cold - a very bad cold - neo-fascist Obama intends to "cure" it with an amputation and a frontal lobotomy. Obama seems more comfortable with state-controlled economy than most Americans - or Europeans, for that matter - would be comfortable with. A few notable Europeans, however, who might have embraced Obama's approach to the economy: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Marx and Mussolini. Over in Asia, Mao and Ho Chi Minh might have found plenty to agree with, too. Michael Boskin writes that Obama's policies seem to be nothing less than the promotion of the pork he promised there would be no more of, earmarks he promised there would no more of, and compounding the damage to the bruised economy he promised to fix. Promises, promises. The illusion that Barack Obama will lead from the economic center has quickly come to an end. Instead of combining the best policies of past Democratic presidents - John Kennedy on taxes, Bill Clinton on welfare reform and a balanced budget, for instance - President Obama is returning to Jimmy Carter's higher taxes and Mr. Clinton's draconian defense drawdown. Boskin praises a handful of things that Obama is doing, such as "testing in agriculture and medical payments; permanent indexing of the alternative minimum tax and other tax reductions." That's not enough to satisfy Boskin, however: The specific problems, however, far outweigh the positives. First are the quite optimistic forecasts, despite the higher taxes and government micromanagement that will harm the economy. The budget projects a much shallower recession and stronger recovery than private forecasters or the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office are projecting. It implies a vast amount of additional spending and higher taxes, above and beyond even these record levels. For example, it calls for a down payment on universal health care, with the additional "resources" needed "TBD" (to be determined). It's as though Obama's pretty campaign promises had no solid plans to back them up. From the poorly designed stimulus bill and vague new financial rescue plan, to the enormous expansion of government spending, taxes and debt somehow permanently strengthening economic growth, the assumptions underlying the president's economic program seem bereft of rigorous analysis and a careful reading of history. Perhaps Obama should read about all of the places and times in which socialism has failed miserably. A rigorous analysis and careful reading of history by Obama might benefit us all, but only if he can see through the fuzzy haze of his Liberal -Socialist-neo-Fascist ideology. RELATED: The Socialist Myth Why Socialism Failed Socialism Works! The Curse of India's Socialism Faster, Please! » We Are All Fascists Now The Socialism and Fascism of the New Deal OpEdNews - Capitalism, Fascism, and Socialism David-Barfield: The failure of socialism in Sweden The Swedish Model - Socialism, Education, and Failure United We Stand: Say Hello to SOCIALISM... really FASCISM! Marxism and the Failure of Organised Socialism in Spain, 1879–1936 Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Cool Stuff...

Video: Obama's Stimulus Dysfunction

If you thought Bush spent like a drunken sailor, know this: Obama's proposal for even more money for the non-stimulating "stimulus" will throw money down like a meth whore in Reno. The investment will be about as well spent, too. Watch the must-see video below for an explanation that even Barney Frank could understand. President Obama wants Congress to dramatically expand the burden of government spending. This CF&P Foundation mini-documentary explains why such a policy, based on the discredited Keynesian theory of economics, will not be successful. Indeed, the video demonstrates that Obama is proposing - for all intents and purposes - to repeat Bush's mistakes. Government will be bigger, even though global evidence shows that nations with small governments are more prosperous. (Source) CNB RSS Feed

IDB: The Audacity of Socialism

You've got one week to decide who you will vote for. Investors Business Daily has a must-read series of articles that explain why Barack Obama is, in fact, a socialist - and why that is dangerous. The series, simply called "The Audacity of Socialism," is especially important for those of you under 50, who have had to suffer a lousy education at the hands of, well, socialists by and large. Barack Obama has styled himself a centrist, but does his record support that claim? In this series, we examine Senator Obama's past, his voting record and the people who've served as his advisers and mentors over the years. We'll show how the facts of Obama's actions and associations reveal a far more left-leaning tilt to his background — and to his politics. FULL SERIES....

McClatchy, Huff Post Wrong About Palin's First "Gaffe"

So, it's being reported today that GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin has made her "first major gaffe." In fact, it was NOT a gaffe at all. Both McClatchy Newspapers and the Huffington Post got it wrong. UPDATE: The Swamp Gets It Wrong, Too Sam Stein makes this erroneous report on the Huffington Post today: Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy [Newspapers] reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization." [Source: Huff Post] The McClatchy article referenced above IS WRONG. It was written by Kevin G. Hall, who apparently just took as a matter of faith the idea that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "aren't taxpayer funded." Hall is dead wrong. But Mr. Stein was slick. He wrote, "Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe..." Notice the word "potentially." Perhaps Mr. Stein, even as he wrote his piece, suspected that there might be more to the story than met his eye. It's too bad he didn't let his eye scan just a few more Google searches. He would have found the following, from Rob Alford at the History News Network: The Federal National Mortgage Association, nicknamed Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Mortgage Corporation, nicknamed Freddie Mac, have operated since 1968 as government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). This means that, although the two companies are privately owned and operated by shareholders, they are protected financially by the support of the Federal Government. [Source] Let's translate that for Kevin G. Hall: "Protected financially by the support of the Federal Government" means that federal tax dollars - from taxpayers - support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Hall got it half right when he wrote that they "operate as private companies," but he missed the little details about (a) being protected financially by the US Government and (b) operating for 40 years as government sponsored enterprises. So, as to Sarah Palin's supposed "gaffe," we've just learned that it really was NOT a gaffe at all. NOTE TO McCLATCHY: Sit down with Mr. Hall and teach him how to do basic research. NOTE TO HUFF POST: Sit down with Mr. Stein and teach him how to do basic research.

Gas Prices Falling, No Thanks To Pelosi

Gas prices are expected to drop to near $3.00 per gallon by year's end, NO THANKS TO NANCY PELOSI or the DEMOCRATS. Adam Smith's invisible hand just bitch slapped Nancy Pelosi. Nearly two and a half years ago, Nancy Pelosi lied to the American people by telling them that she and the Democrats had a plan to lower fuel prices. On April 24, 2006 she said the following in a press release: “Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.” We're still waiting for the Democrats' "commonsense plan." Perhaps it was the suggestion recently by Obama to keep our tires properly inflated. Perhaps not. In any case, it would seem that the market - and not any political party - is at work. Gasoline prices, which have declined steadily for more than a month in Chicago and nationally are expected to continue dropping this Labor Day weekend, and could fall to near $3 a gallon before the end of the year, unless Hurricane Gustav decides to rain on the consumer party. FULL STORY at Chicago Sun-Times...

Cows and Corporations

This has been going around the Internet for years now, but it's always worth another look. DEMOCRATIC You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. Barbara Streisand sings for you. REPUBLICAN You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So? SOCIALIST You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor. You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow. COMMUNIST You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk. You wait in line for hours to get it. It is expensive and sour. CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows. BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE You have two cows. Under the new farm program the government pays you to shoot one, milk the other, and then pours the milk down the drain. AMERICAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one. You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are reducing expenses. Your stock goes up. FRENCH CORPORATION You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows. You go to lunch and drink wine. Life is good. JAPANESE CORPORATION You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school. GERMAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You engineer them so they are all blond, drink lots of beer, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year. ITALIAN CORPORATION You have two cows but you don't know where they are. While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman. You break for lunch. Life is good. RUSSIAN CORPORATION You have two cows. You have some vodka. You count them and learn you have five cows. You have some more vodka. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have. TALIBAN CORPORATION You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two. You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts. You get a $40 million grant from the US government to find alternatives to milk production but use the money to buy weapons. IRAQI CORPORATION You have two cows. They go into hiding. They send radio tapes of their mooing. POLISH CORPORATION You have two bulls. Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them. BELGIAN CORPORATION You have one cow. The cow is schizophrenic. Sometimes the cow thinks he's French, other times he's Flemish. The Flemish cow won't share with the French cow. The French cow wants control of the Flemish cow's milk. The cow asks permission to be cut in half. The cow dies happy. FLORIDA CORPORATION You have a black cow and a brown cow. Everyone votes for the best looking one. Some of the people who actually like the brown one best accidentally vote for the black one. Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some people can't figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which one you think is the best-looking cow. CALIFORNIA CORPORATION You have millions of cows. They make real California cheese. Only five speak English. Most are illegals.

American Masochism

"No one working with even a minimal amount of intelligence can really believe that allowing perhaps 20 million, largely illiterate, illegal immigrants to remain in this nation is a good thing: In fact, it is so bad that it seriously threatens our political stability, endangers national security and undermines our already wobbly economy." So writes John Nash today in the Tampa Tribune. It's a brief but hard hitting column. "Although it's difficult to imagine, illegal immigrants, with the considerable help of ambitious, careless and dangerous politicians, have managed to become a powerful political force, even though they are unable to vote legally. An influential political action committee, representing what are variously, and curiously, referred to as "Latinos" or "Hispanics," has been able to thwart action to raise immigration quotas for legal arrivals, by demanding sweeping, and concurrent, benefits for the hordes of illegals swarming across our insecure southern border with Mexico." READ THE FULL COLUMN...

Edgewater Getting It Done!

They know how to do it over in Edgewater, one of Chicago's most vital neighborhoods. Unlike Rogers Park, its economically troubled neighbor immediately north, Edgewater has an alderman and private companies that readily and openly engage in promoting the neighborhood.

Not afraid of progress, Edgewater is rapidly pulling itself up by its boot straps with exciting new restaurants, cafes, retailers and more. Meanwhile, Rogers Park to the north is mired in political shadows, local power struggles, and much alleged corruption.

Come see for yourself next week by joining the "Dinner Crawl" (details below). (This should be of particular interest to folks who live in the Occupied 49th Ward of Rogers Park, who have been repeatedly lied to by Alderman Joe Moore and DevCorp North about promises of revitalizing Morse Avenue and Howard Street.)

From the Edgewater Development Corporation's web site:

Fourteen local restaurants will be open for your enjoyment and many businesses will also join in on the fun. Taste the flavors, experience the theater, enjoy the shopping. Edgewater awaits you on Bryn Mawr & Broadway this June 26th.

Bryn Mawr, Edgewater's historic main street serves as the backdrop for this evening. Participating restaurants will offer samples from their menu for your dining enjoyment. You will also catch snippets of performing arts and great shopping destinations peppered amongst the food. It's a menu for a wonderful summer evening in historic Edgewater.

Date
From June 26, 2008 6:00 PM
Until June 26, 2008 8:30 PM

Location
Starting point is Bridgeview Bank
1058 W Bryn Mawr, Chicago, IL 60640

Info Line
773-506-4016
Website
http://www.edgewaterdev.org/

Contact: Adam Burck
6044 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60660
773-506-4016
info@edgewaterdev.org

Wall Street's Dark Day

Stocks tanked today, with the Dow industrials shedding 395 points, after oil prices spiked and the May jobs report showed a big jump in the unemployment rate, CNNMoney.com reports. The Dow lost 395 points, or 3.1 percent, its biggest one-day decline since February 2007. FULL REPORT...

Mayor Daley, Economic Doofus

CHICAGO MAYOR RICHARD DALEY HAS PROVEN that he's just as ignorant about the economy as most Democrats are.

A telling story in the Chicago Sun-Times today had everything you need to prove this. For example:

The Republican National Committee fired back at Mayor Daley today for condemning as a meaningless “handout” plans to give Americans a tax rebate to stimulate the faltering U.S. economy.

Say, hasn't it been fun to watch major Democrats scramble frantically to see who can call for the biggest tax refund? Hmmm, aren't these the same idiots who have been dissing the "Bush tax cuts" for several years, telling us that tax cuts just don't work? Why, yes! They are! But suddenly - in an election year - those same economically ignorant brain stems are emphatically for tax cuts. The bigger the better, in fact.

The Sun-Times continued:

“It’s no secret Mayor Daley would rather raise taxes than support tax rebates. On the bright side, Chicagoans will be able to use these tax rebates to pay for some of Daley’s tax hikes,” said RNC spokesman Chris Taylor, apparently referring to the $276.5 million in taxes, fines and fees that balanced Daley’s 2008 budget.

Right, and that's the problem with Daley and his kind. They don't seem to understand Econ 101. Take money from people, they have less money. If people have less money, they will spend less. When people spend less, there is less money in circulation. When there is less money in circulation, less things and services are being bought and paid for, and so employers are forced to lay off and/or hire less people. Oh, and because this causes fewer sales and fewer income earners, the resulting tax revenue stream into the government's coffers dwindles. Duh. This is understandable to any bright seventh grader. But not to Mayor Daley. Not to the average Democrat.

Mayor Daley was not satisfied to merely point out that he would fail Econ 101. He continued, proving not merely ignorance but downright stupidity:

“People want a job. They don’t want a handout. They don’t want welfare and they don’t want a handout of $500. It doesn’t answer anything. So you take the $500. So you spend it within two weeks. Then what happens after that?” Daley said.

Ye gods, what a moron. That "handout of $500" Hizzoner referred to is not a handout. It's a return of money that was not the government's in first place. It's a return of stolen property, in essence. But as to what happens to that hypothetical $500: IT GETS SPENT. Duh. Spent on crazy shit like food, rent, gas bills, electric bills, and maybe a nice dinner or a new coat. But it's not merely $500. The mayor's arithmetic is off, somewhat. It would really be more akin to over $1,000,000,000 (that one billion dollars for my Democrat readers), because the refunds are not being limited to (a) only $500 nor (b) to just one person.

But Daley continued. Quoth the Sun-Times:

“The answer has to be how do you get federal money out of Washington immediately into the construction industry…There has to be a long term commitment [by] Democrats and Depublicans [sic] of putting people to work. If Franklin Delano Roosevelt put people to work, why can’t we as a great nation decide to put more and more people to work…There’s nothing wrong with a publc [sic] works project…We could rebuild our schools, parks, libraries [and] infrastructure.”

So Daley is no ordinary moron, he is no average Democrat. He is a soft socialist. Can somebody please point out to me where in the Constitution it gives the government - at any level - the responsibility to "put people to work?" If FDR, said Daley, can put people to work, why can't a nation as great as we are "decide to put more and more people to work." The capper: "There's nothing wrong with a public works project."

No, nothing at all if you're talking about roads, hospitals, and the like. But if we're talking about another FDR New Deal type program, there are serious problems. For one thing, the constitutionality of FDR's programs were, to put it mildly, suspect. For another, to undertake something on a comparable scale today would be massively expensive - trillions of dollars. For another thing, the economy today simply has a cough and a cold, compared to FDR's economy of walking pneumonia.

If we listen to the economic policies and "wisdom" of Daley and the Democrats, they will not only bring pneumonia. They will bring on full cardiac arrest.

Rogers Park "Bi-Polar"

YoChicago cites an interesting study today, in which Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood is named an "emerging low-income" neighborhood. Gee, you mean in spite of Alderman Moore's cafes and restaurants springing up "everywhere you look?" Yes, in spite of... Metro Chicago Information Center has produced a report analyzing the changing economic fortunes of Chicago's 77 community areas. Based on residents' income, the three-decade analysis of U.S. Census data measures which neighborhoods are getting richer, which are getting poorer and which are becoming "bipolar" - with a growing gap between rich and poor. The report also determines that 19 neighborhoods are models of "stable diversity." The areas getting richer, which the report calls "emerging high-income," are not surprisingly clustered near downtown and the North side. But there are exceptions, such as Chatham and Morgan Park. The "emerging low-income" neighborhoods include Rogers Park, Avondale and Pullman. Full Article...

Muddy Playing Field: Dialectics and Economics

This is a thought provoking article about the modern state of education and why so many Americans (and Europeans) just don't understand economics. It's the dialectic, stupid, that has gotten in the way. The article quoted below, "Socialist Professors and Economics," was written by Sam Vankin, who is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. Vankin was a columnist for Central Europe Review, Global Politician, PopMatters, eBookWeb, and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He was the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.
Can Socialist Professors of Economics Teach Capitalism? Is Transition from Communism Possible? This is why workers and managers inherited from the socialist-communist period can never function properly in a Capitalist ambience. Both were trained at civil disobedience through looting their own state and factories. Both grew accustomed to state handouts and bribes disguised as entitlements, were suspicious and envious at their own elites (especially their politicians and crony professors), victims to suppressed rage and open, helpless, degrading dependence. Such workers and managers - no matter how well intentioned and well qualified or skilled - are likely to sabotage the very efforts whose livelihood depends on. READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE...

Worst U.S. Economy Ever?

Not! Unemployment rate matches 5-year low in March Adding to the positive showing, job gains in January and February turned out to be stronger than previously reported. The economy added 113,000 positions in February, up from a prior estimate of just 97,000, which had marked the slowest job growth in two years. In January 162,000 new jobs were created, better than the 146,000 previously reported. Workers' wages grew modestly. Average hourly earnings rose to $17.22 in March, a 0.3 percent increase from February. That matched economists' expectations. Over the last 12 months, wages grew by 4 percent.