Archive for category Statism
Historically, Peaceful Majorities Are Irrelevant
Posted by Tom in Law, Morality & Religion in the Public Square, Statism, Terrorism on September 1, 2010
I recently received an email tagged as “A German’s View on Islam” which essentially advanced the proposition that complacency of the “silent majorities” in Stalin’s Russia, Hitler’s Germany, or Tojo’s Japan is responsible for the fanatics accession to power. The email is taken from a dated article by Paul E. Marek and is currently applied to Islam. It reads in part:
“The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history; it is
the fanatics who march…it is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting
wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian
or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire
continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder,
or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It
is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims
and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to
become suicide bombers..” In other words, peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence!
With this historical logic difficult to refute, it was heartening to see today’s WSJ article, “A Symposium: What Is Moderate Islam?” This is a collection of six answers given by Islamic scholars and commentators. I commend a full reading to the piece, but I was particularly drawn to the last two essays, “Don’t Gloss Over The Violent Texts” and “Mystics, Modernists and Literalists.”
From the first, “Radical Islam is not limited to the act of terrorism; it also includes the embrace of teachings within the religion that promote hatred and ultimately breed terrorism. Those who limit the definition of radical Islam to terrorism are ignoring—and indirectly approving of—the Shariah teachings that permit killing apostates, violence against women and gays, and anti-Semitism.”
“Moderate Islam must not be passive. It needs to actively reinterpret the violent parts of the religious text rather than simply cherry-picking the peaceful ones. Ignoring, rather than confronting or contextualizing, the violent texts leaves young Muslims vulnerable to such teachings at a later stage in their lives.”
And, from the second: “The literalists believe that Muslim behavior must approximate that of the Prophet in seventh-century Arabia. Their belief that Islam is under attack forces many of them to adopt a defensive posture. And while not all literalists advocate violence, many do. Movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Taliban belong to this category.”
Islam has a foundational text problem which gives rise to the terrorists. It is difficult to see how that will be solved even if the silent majorities rise up in force in their totalitarian societies.
By modern analogy, silent majorities are responsible for the ills of great democratic nations. We have witnessed as much here over the last half century with our gradual descent on the road to serfdom, our slip into socialism. Hopefully we wake up soon!
Barney Frank Admits the Truth
Posted by kyle in Centrally Managed Economy, Congress, Democrats, Economics, Financial Crisis, Financial Policy, Statism on August 21, 2010
This is beyond amazing.
Barney Frank, co-author of the housing bubble and the subsequent financial crisis, calls for the elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac!
“August 21, 2010
Barney Frank Comes Home to the Facts
By Larry Kudlow
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? In politics, the answer is usually no. Most elected officials cling to their ideological biases, despite the real-world facts that disprove their theories time and again. Most have no common sense, and most never acknowledge that they were wrong.
But one huge exception to this rule is Democrat Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
For years, Frank was a staunch supporter of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant government housing agencies that played such an enormous role in the financial meltdown that thrust the economy into the Great Recession. But in a recent CNBC interview, Frank told me that he was ready to say goodbye to Fannie and Freddie.
“I hope by next year we’ll have abolished Fannie and Freddie,” he said. Remarkable. And he went on to say that “it was a great mistake to push lower-income people into housing they couldn’t afford and couldn’t really handle once they had it.” He then added, “I had been too sanguine about Fannie and Freddie.”
When I asked Frank about a long-term phase-out plan that would shrink Fannie and Freddie portfolios and mortgage-purchase limits, and merge the agencies into the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) for a separate low-income program that would get government out of middle-income housing subsidies, he replied, “Larry, that, I think, is exactly what we should be doing.”
Frank also said that any federal housing guarantees should be transparently priced and put on budget. But he added that the private sector must be encouraged to re-enter housing finance just as the government gradually withdraws from it.
Some would say Frank’s mea culpa is politically motivated in advance of an election where bailout nation and big government are public enemies No. 1 and 2. Of course, poll after poll shows that the $150 billion Fan-Fred bailout, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could rise to $400 billion, is detested by voters and taxpayers everywhere.
In fact, these failed government agencies are in such bad shape that they can’t even pay Uncle Sam the dividends owed under the conservatorship deal reached two years ago. That’s right. In order to pay a $1.8 billion dividend on Treasury department stock, Fan and Fred had to borrow $1.5 billion from — you guessed it — the Treasury.
Then there’s this head-scratching detail: In an absolutely outrageous move last Christmas Eve, President Obama signed off on $42 million in bonuses for the top 12 Fannie and Freddie executives, including $6 million apiece for the two CEOs. (Hat tip to attorney Stephen B. Meister.)
Voters are on to all this. So politics may indeed be motivating Barney Frank’s turnaround. But I’m going to credit him with more than that.
I think Chairman Frank watched these government behemoths descend into hell and then witnessed the financial catastrophe that ensued. And I think he has come to realize that the whole system of federal affordable-housing mandates that was central to the real-estate collapse — including the mandates on Fannie and Freddie and the myriad bad decisions made by private banks and other lenders in response to the government’s overreach — simply needs to be abolished.
Noteworthy is the fact that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has come to a similar conclusion. Geithner told a recent Washington conference on the future of housing finance that the system needs fundamental change. He said, “We will not support a return to the system where private gains are subsidized by taxpayer losses.”
Of course, the withdrawal of housing markets from government programs, and the onset of a reinvigorated private sector for providing mortgages, must be done gradually over a period of years. But it is possible that the federal mortgage madness is coming to an end.
We will have to see if Congress really does say goodbye to Fan and Fred, as Republicans like Jeb Hensarling are advocating. Equally important, we will have to see if the federal affordable-housing mandates created by Congress and implemented by HUD and banking regulators are similarly repealed.
And then we will have to see if reformed federally guaranteed housing insurance includes larger down payments, stricter underwriting standards and greater reliance on private capital markets, lenders and insurers. In other words, we need to see if housing will be restored to a market-based system and removed from the government-backed system that has proved so disastrous.
The broader lesson here is that government planning doesn’t work. And if left to their own devices, market processes will work. I don’t know if President Obama gets this. But my hat goes off to a man who does, Chairman Barney Frank.”
Help Not Wanted
Posted by Tom in Business, Government Regulation, Statism on August 9, 2010
Michael Fleischer posted a hard hitting op-ed in today’s WSJ, “Why I’m Not Hiring.” In it he tells about a valued, long term, mid-level employee at his audio systems company in New Jersey. He details the pay and benefits and discusses the taxes, insurance and fees involved in her compensation. “When you add it all up, it const $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally’s pocket and give her $12,000 in benefits.”
But that’s only part of the story. Hussein Obama’s statism has businesses guessing, wondering when the next shoe will drop in terms of tax, regulation or restriction. The uncertainty principal is paramount in business today. Why should I invest, why should I hire, when I don’t know what these tzars will do next? Obamacare is omnipresent, yet unknown in scope and effect. Financial re-regulation is all encompassing, yet unknown in scope and effect. Cap and Trade is a dormant threat of gigantic proportions. Obama and his Reid-Pelosi comrades have set up bureaucratic rule-making to an extent not seen in modern memory. Using the Tom Cargill analogy, when the chess umpire announces in the middle of the match that the rules are being reconsidered and that an announcement will be made in the near future, what is going to happen to the match? Will the contestants continue to play?
Likewise in business, whether the company is a rent seeker like GE or a small business like Michael Fleischer playing by the rules, growth stops, risks are avoided, in short, the game stops. No investment. No hiring. No growth!
I met this afternoon with the owner of a multinational small business who handles major relocations; his business is a barometer of future business activity. He has reduced staff significantly and has no incentive to ramp back up. Just a reaffirmation of Michael Fleischer’s “Why I’m Not Hiring.”
It is imperative that we rid ourselves of this scum come November.
Obama Economy
Posted by Tom in Centrally Managed Economy, Employment, Government Regulation, Statism on August 8, 2010
Interesting video on unemployment growth in the era of Obama big government statism. Note that this dose not include those who have given up looking for work. (Click on the full screen icon for larger view.)
The Past, A Prologue
Posted by Tom in Centrally Managed Economy, Deficit, Democrats, National Debt, Statism on August 3, 2010
My friend Ron Tomsic sent this cartoon from the Chicago Tribune, dated April 20th 1934. Note the plan of action in the lower left hand corner.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it!
Understand Islam, Fail To At Your Peril
Posted by Tom in Europe, Foreign Policy, Homeland Security, Law, Morality & Religion in the Public Square, Statism, Terrorism on August 2, 2010
I recently received a You Tube video entitled “Three Things About Islam.” It is long but provides good source references at the end. In sum, it makes three points: 1. Islam has not been hijacked. Westerners have been told and assume that it has been hijacked by violent jihadists, how otherwise could a religion be so violent. The Qur’an has both peaceful and jihadist verses often thought contradictory but it provides a rule for resolving apparent conflicts, the last in time governs. Unfortunately, the violent jihadist verses are later in time than the peaceful verces.
2. Sharia Law is a duty for all Muslims. Sharia is the anthesis of separation of church and state, indeed the anthesis of freedom. It combines religion and political aspects into one totalitarian society commanded by the Qur’an. The law is ancient commanding eye for eye justice, stoning, and dismemberment for proscribed offenses. It governs contracts and commerce. The world will not be at peace until all nations are governed by Shria Law. So creeping Shria as in the UK where Shria courts already exist is indeed a danger. At current birth rates Europe will be majority muslim within our children’s lifetimes. So whether through the bed room and creeping Shria or through 911 type jihad, Muslims are installing Shria worldwide.
3. Muslims lie to non-Muslims. The Qur’an sanctions these lies in order to convert infidels and advance Shria Law. This principal is called TAQIYYA. To say one thing to non-Muslims and the exact opposite to Muslims is frequently used in the Arab world today. This is the very means of calling Islam the religion of peace!
Hussein Obama has curried favor in the Arab world bowing to its leaders and apologizing for the United States. He is an advocate of the “religion of peace” view of Islam. He even urged the NASA director to reach out to Muslim countries. Methinks Hussein’s Muslim roots are getting in the way of his job as president!
The YouTube video is long and made for a British audience so I did not embed it in this post. If you are so inclined to further study, the link is here.
July Hayek Dinner: State of the Economy
Posted by Tom in Centrally Managed Economy, Deficit, Economics, Employment, Financial Crisis, Financial Policy, Government Regulation, Individual Freedom, Monetary Policy, National Character, National Debt, Statism, Yucca Mountain on July 21, 2010
Our thanks to Tom Cargill for the excellent presentation last evening and to Jerry O’Driscoll for arranging the meeting in my absence.
Jerry opened with a snapshot on employment trends from selected countries since 2008. The US is at the bottom of the pile and trending down!
Tom picked it up from there with a quick look back on the first decade of this century focusing on four remarkable points: 1. US homeland is vulnerable to attack since 911; the first since the war of 1812. 2. Critics of the market are strong despite the increase in standard of living in the last quarter century. 3. Failures of the welfare state notwithstanding, the US is moving toward socialism. And, 4. the political force toward socialism can be traced to our current great recession.
Technically, the recession is still in full force. The question is what kind of recovery will come, weak flat “U” or “J,” or a double dip. Ten key points are apparent:
- the US has not seen more economic, financial, and political distress since the Great Depression.
- our recession was not caused by market failure but mainly by government failure, both monetary with low rates too long and fiscally with housing policies of Fannie-Freddie.
- yet, the public hypnotized by Obama rhetoric believes market failure was the cause.
- admittedly, the $700 billion financial bailout was necessary to prevent a liquidity crisis.
- but the five “stimulus” packages ignored history and had a negative effect, negative Keynesian multiplier, on the GDP. Wasteful spending directed to leftist programs.
- while we now see some GDP growth, the private sector is not creating jobs and budget pressures will force a decline in public sector employment.
- the private market is not creating jobs due to the great uncertainty of the rules of the game; we are going to state directed allocation of resources not market directed allocation.
- Adam Smith calls man an economic animal, “truck, barter, and exchange” but the uncertainty of the rules creates inefficiencies that lower growth potential.
- the economic game becomes even more uncertain because of the greater role of government; what happens to the chess game if it is announced in the middle of the game that there will be a rule change; Obama is regularly announcing rule changes to come!
- QED, the most likely “recovery” is a flat “J” over the next several years with a chance of a double dip.
Tom now thinks the chance of a double dip is 50/50, an increase from his earlier thinking. Potential economic shocks which will push toward a double dip are: the dramatic increase in taxes next year, and the questionable stability of the European Union. The current divergence in fiscal policy between the overspending US and the rapid austerity in Europe may well be a third negative shock. Tom concluded saying that only a change in the US congress and administration will offer hope of a solid recovery.
We thank Beth Powers and her crew for her comments and patriotic efforts with LibertyInAmerica.org. Please consider a donation to help continue the fine bus treck.
John Dunn provided a positive report on Yucca mountain efforts, see NV4CFE.org.
Finally, our thanks to Mike Herring for treating the group to dinner and drinks, this an an inducement to make contributions to Sharron Angle’s campaign to retire Dirty Harry.
Steve Wynn on the Leftist Democrats Killing the Economy
Posted by Tom in Business, Centrally Managed Economy, Congress, Democrats, Economics, Government Regulation, National Debt, Statism on July 21, 2010
This CNBC interview with Steve Wynn is well worth your time:
Paul Ryan: Fork in Road
Posted by Tom in Business, Centrally Managed Economy, Economics, National Character, Statism on July 16, 2010
You can’t say it any better than Paul Ryan.
Hussein’s Manipulation of Justice
The Department of Justice is supposed to be the most independent of all cabinet offices. Rightly so, since it has the power to investigate, to indict, and to prosecute. It is an awesome power, a power of trust, discretion and justice. It alone is the power not to prosecute after investigation, to nol pros. It is as close to the judicial power as power can get. It has traditionally been independent.
Enter Hussein and Eric Holder, gofer to Hussein. In the face of uncontroverted evidence of voter intimidation and against the advice of local, career Justice Department attorneys, Holder refuses to take a default, that’s uncontested, judgement against the Black Panthers. Why? Political motivation in Justice? Oh, are the Black Panthers black?
As bad, Hussein Obama ordered Holder to file a lawsuit against Arizona for its law enforcing federal law. Legally most experts agree that the lawsuit has no merit. No matter, it’s politics. Hussein while not having read the Arizona law, and refusing to enforce the federal law, is currying favor with the illegals who he hopes will vote, yes vote, for his leftists Democrats, excuse me, progressive Democrats!
Kris Kobach in his NY Post piece today, Behind US v. Arizona: pure politics, tells it like it is.
What a horrible degradation of justice in this country. It is easy to forecast trials like those in Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Nazi Germany coming here soon. Speak against Hussein at your own risk! His misuse of justice for political purposes knows no bounds.
Pray that we will be rid of this ilk in the next election.