The Wisdom of Thomas Sowell

Hat tip to JP Curnutt; Madras,Oregon 

Taxes and Politics   "Someone once said that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. That may have been true when he said it, but today taxes are mostly the price we pay so that politicians can play Santa Claus and get reelected.

"That's not the worst of it. We may think of taxes as just a source of government revenue. But tax rates are a big political statement on the left, whether they bring in any revenue or not.

 

The truth is, tax cuts don't increase deficit  ..."Obama is a master of the plausible lie, which will never be exposed by the mainstream media — nor, apparently, by the Republicans.

"A key lie that has been repeated over and over, largely unanswered, is that President Bush's "tax cuts for the rich" cost the government so much lost tax revenue that this added to the budget deficit — so that the government cannot afford to allow the cost of letting the Bush tax rates continue for "the rich." "

 By the conservative-phobic Pat Oliphant, but he does have a point here.

Reprise: Happy New Year?  "Yet this is not just about Mitt Romney. He is only the latest in a long series of presidential candidates backed by a Republican establishment that seems convinced that ad hoc "moderation" is where it's at -- no matter how many of their ad hoc moderates get beaten by even vulnerable, unknown or discredited Democrats."

...."Some people may take solace from the fact that there are some articulate Republicans like Marco Rubio who may come forward in 2016. But with Iran going nuclear and North Korea developing missiles that can hit California, it may be too late by then."

Fallout from that map of gun owners

Ex-Burglars Say Newspaper’s Gun Map Would’ve Made the Job Easier, Safer  "The information published online by the Journal-News, a daily paper serving the New York suburbs of Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, could be highly useful to thieves in two ways, former burglars told FoxNews.com. Crooks looking to avoid getting shot now know which targets are soft and those who need weapons know where they can steal them.
....
" “That was the most asinine article I’ve ever seen,” said Walter T. Shaw, 65, a former burglar and jewel thief who the FBI blames for more than 3,000 break-ins that netted some $70 million in the 1960s and 1970s. “Having a list of who has a gun is like gold - why rob that house when you can hit the one next door, where there are no guns?  Read more:

New York Newspaper's Gun Permit Map Already Having Negative Repercussions "Inmates are taunting corrections officers" at an area jail; one of the counties' sheriffs says that it's "hurting law enforcement as a whole"; a Rockland County Democratic legislator who currently doesn't own a gun says "he now fears for his safety" and will get one; and a divorced woman who says her ex-husband tried to strangle her is worried that "now he can find me." Here is the Newsday article cited in this post: Journal News gun permit map endangers officers, officials say.  Excerpts:

Inmates at the Rockland County jail are taunting corrections officers by saying they know the guards' home addresses -- information they got from the list published by Westchester-based newspaper, Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco said.

Another:

"I never owned a gun but now I have no choice," Wieder said. "I have been exposed as someone that has no gun. And I'll do anything, anything to protect my family."

Another:

...."When I saw the list, I had an immediate flood of emotions that I cannot even describe to you," said Swift. "I originally obtained a gun permit because I had previously been married to a man who attempted to strangle me . . . The first emotion I felt was, 'Oh my gosh, he can find me.'"

Unless you are one of the low-information voters, you know that newspaper has hired armed guards.

GOP's Camp: Obama's 'spending problem is getting worse, not better'

  Investors.com

"Many of our Democrat colleagues just don't seem to get it. Throughout the fiscal cliff discussions, the President and the Democrats who control Washington repeatedly refused to take any meaningful steps to make Washington live within its means.
"That position is irresponsible and fails to acknowledge what every family in America already knows — when you have no more money in your account and your credit cards are maxed out, then the spending must stop."  Read More At IBD:

 Obama administration delivers delayed regulatory agenda, could cost billions
"Dozens of federal agencies, from the Energy Department to the Department of Homeland Security, have the authority to issue regulations without any congressional involvement.
Simply put, Dupree says, "The regulators are very powerful." Their reach extends into every corner of U.S. business operations and private property."  Read more:

Remember when John McCain told us not to fear an Obama presidency?  OK, John, now what do we do? Republican candidates who are afraid to call this president to account in the bluntest of terms have helped create the downfall of this nation.

What You Could Buy with the Average Tax Increase  "And $136.25 monthly?  What does that buy or help offset?  How about groceries?  Read this from Daily Finance (and weep)...."

In case you hadn't heard, Obama is blaming all this on President Bush and low-information voters are buying it!

5 Reasons You Would Never Want To Be a Superhero in the Real World

PJ Media  " Who'd have ever thought flying and benching 8000 pounds would be a drag?"
"No wonder every kid grows up wanting to be a superhero. The comic books make it sound awesome: your life is exciting, you’re important, you’re famous, and being a hero is part of the description of what you do on a regular basis! It’s like being a celebrity-astronaut-Seal who can lift a car over his head. Who wouldn’t want to do that? Well, maybe YOU wouldn’t once you realized that in practice, it would be about as much fun as being Mark Sanchez’s quarterback coach."

1) It Would Be Impossible to Hide Your Secret Identity.

"Most comics only make a cursory attempt to explain how superheroes could hide their identity. Superman just wore glasses. Glasses on, Clark Kent. Glasses off, “Hello, Superman!” Batman wore a mask and disguised his voice, but he was obviously an incredibly wealthy, athletic man with access to advanced technology who lived near Gotham."....

2) You’d Be Buried Under an Avalanche of Lawsuits.  

"..... “Yes, your honor, he did save me from Dr. Hitler’s giant robot Nazi, but in the process, I hurt my back. I’m not going to be able to work for six months. How am I supposed to make a living?” "

.... Ellipses mean there's a lot more where all this came from, so go to the link to see it all.

4) The Government Would Turn Your Life Into a Nightmare.

The first time some five year old got hurt in a battle between you and “Moocor the Dinsosaur-Cow from Space Wyoming,” there would be a dozen bills introduced in Congress to curtail your activities. The IRS would wonder if you’ve paid your taxes on your rocket cycle. The Environmental Protection Agency would demand that you submit to a 10-year study of the environmental impact of your laser eyes. Keep in mind that we’re talking about people who want to regulate the size of the sodas you’re allowed to drink. You think they’re just going to roll with it when you throw a city bus at a space Dinosaur-Cow that’s eating the Planet Hollywood sign?
 

For Low-Information voters out there: Breaking down the President's budget gimmicks

From the American Action Forum

Also this: Analyzing the Clinton-Obama ‘Arithmetic’

Douglas J. "Doug" Holtz-Eakin is an American economist, former professor, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and former chief economic policy adviser to U.S. Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. In early 2010, Holtz-Eakin became president of American Action Forum, a conservative think tank focused on fiscal and public policy issues. Since joining American Action Forum, Holtz-Eakin has appeared on Fox News to argue against a 2010 health care bill as well as writing a similarly-worded Op-Ed for the New York Times. But, best of all, his name is hyphenated and that's good enough for me.

In 2013, protect and support your local blogger more than ever

Legal Insurrection  "Bloggers are vulnerable to lawfare, the malicious use of legal processes to intimidate and run up legal fees which most bloggers cannot afford.  The Aaron Worthing story and the SWATting of Patrick Frey (Patterico) are example of abuse of legal process from the left.
Another example is the aforementioned Blazing Cat Fur, which is subject to unique harrassment from the left and Islamists because of Canada’s speech codes which resembles what we see on college campuses where alleged protection of multi-culturalism and human rights is the pretext used to shut down non-liberal speech.
"As explained by his wife, Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury  , Lawfare: Canadian Muslims plotting to shut down my husband’s blog:

"As we’ve known for some time, Canadian Muslims have been putting together a lawfare case designed to silence my husband’s blog, BlazingCatFur.

"Now they’ve admitted this online at a Khomenist site, asking for donations to support The Man Who Is Suing Us in separate actions related to Canada’s Human Rights Commissions.

They specifically say they are targeting my husband because he is a “Zionist.”

....

"As many of you know, my husband’s investigations uncovered the sex-segregated mosqueteria in a Toronto public school and helped halt government funding to radical Palestine House, to name only two stories he broke which were later picked up by the mainstream media (usually without credit, with Sun News being the lone exception.)

"His videotapes of Muslims calling for “another Holocaust” and so forth have been seen by tens of thousands.

"Just yesterday, he posted this speech by a Toronto area Muslim schoolgirl, praising the Ayatollah Khomeini and the banned-in-Canada terrorist group Hezbollah. She calls for the defeat of the “Zionist Regime.'”

 I wanted to imbed the video but the sound was too poor and just plain illegible.

Progressives waking up to New Year’s economic hangover

Legal Insurrection
"I don’t normally prowl the threads of Democratic Underground, but was interested to read comments regarding one of their complaints about an increase in social security withholding tax after Rush Limbaugh remarked on it today.
Surprise! The author self-deleted the comment."
....
I guess being featured on Limbaugh’s program was more shame that NCTraveler could bear. However, she is not the only one shocked to discover that they are counted among the “1 percent”, the “wealthy”, and the “privileged” by Team Obama today.

Twitchy has a compendium of tweets that show a complete lack of understanding about the impact of progressive policies and federal fiscal irresponsibility on the individual level. My personal favorites are from the employers who have to hand our the smaller paychecks to their unhappy employees:

Much more at the link...

Sandy Victim Unloads on FEMA and “Do Nothing” Obama: “He’s a Phoney and Straight-Out Liar”

This is one ticked off boy.
Nice Deb  "Hurricane Sandy victim, Scott McGrath of Staten Island, gave his opinion of FEMA and the Obama administration’s handling of the hurricane relief effort on Neil Cavuto, Friday.
He called Obama a phoney and straight out liar.

“He said to me face to face that he’s going to cut the red tape. We’re two months out — no red tapes been cut. He told me things were going to be taken care of. FEMA has to listen to him…”

"He also railed against the extension of unemployment benefits” "

“There’s jobs out there. People need to get off their rear ends and find a job and stop taking free hand-outs….I’m tired of people collecting, collecting, collecting and getting rewarding – they’re sending a bad message to the kids of the future – they’re telling them, ‘do not work’, you’re better off.”

I love the way he weighs in on Chuck Schumer's righteous indignation schtick. 

After the Fiscal Cliff: What do Democrats Want?

The Daily Beast  "For starters, there's a matter of timing.  President Obama just successfully raised taxes on the rich. Is he going to go back and do it again in a few months?  I'm not sure about the optics here: while I think that a tax increase on the rich was popular and inevitable, I don't think that Democrats will do well to position themselves as the party that does nothing but demand more tax increases, even on rich people.  Moreover, each successive tax increase is likely to be less popular than the last, precisely because the most politically popular increases inevitably get passed first.  A return to the Clinton-era tax levels on people who make more than $450,000 a year is, politically speaking, a no-brainer.  A further hike will peel off a few voters who just wanted the rich to pay their "fair share" and now feel content.  The third hike will be pushing rates close to 50%, if it is to raise any money at all.  That seems to be pushing pretty far past most Americans' ideas about what tax rates ought to be."

 

Obama will claim credit for this, but we can all thank fracking instead

US drilling boom for shale oil is remaking America’s energy picture and has brought net oil imports to a 20-year low
"As recently as 2006, domestic crude oil accounted for only about 40% of U.S. oil consumption and imports for 60%.  In only six years, those shares of U.S. oil consumption have almost reversed, with domestic crude oil supplying almost 60% of America’s oil consumption this year, as the share of foreign oil has fallen below 40% in recent months.  As the WSJ points out, the drilling boom in shale-rich states like North Dakota and Texas, thanks to advanced drilling technologies, is completely “remaking the U.S. energy picture,” and in the process remaking the U.S. economy."

And I'm sure that if the Matt Damon film, "Promised Land" does to the oil industry what "China Syndrome" did for nuclear, that will all come to an end.

Matt Damon’s Anti-Fracking Movie Seemingly On Its Way To A Flop  "Matt Damon has become something of an anti-fracking activist. His new movie, Promised Land, takes aim at oil and gas drilling technique, no doubt hoping to do for fracking what The China Syndrome did for nuclear energy.
"The movie is about an oil industry land man who is out to swindle property owners into letting oil companies “frack” (drill for oil”) on their land." This post then refers us to:...

Rotten Tomatoes says, "The earnest and well-intentioned Promised Land sports a likable cast, but it also suffers from oversimplified characterizations and a frustrating final act." 48% didn't like the movie and 40% did in this review.

CNN: Damon's film 'Promised Land' overlooks fracking's boon to U.S.  "Instead, the film falls back on many conventional anti-capitalist themes. The "only reason you're here is 'cause we're poor," declares a farmer to Butler at one point."
...."The energy boom is bringing jobs and increased tax revenues back to rural America and not just to the pockets of big energy companies, as Damon and his co-writers would have you believe."
William Bennett

The "Fair Share" Tax Calculator

"We always hear that the “rich” aren’t paying their “fair share”. This begs* the question: what amount constitutes this fair share? This graphic should clear things up:"

Say Anything Blog

Allow me to digress, please:  to"beg the question" is always used improperly; it should have said "prompts the question". To beg the question is to avoid answering it, much as Obama does on the few occasions when he is asked something by a real journalist. Here is an example of "begging a question" from the Biden-Ryan debate:

 

Moderator:...The State Department has now made clear there were no protesters there. It was a pre-planned assault by heavily armed men. Wasn't this a massive intelligence failure, Vice President Biden?

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: What it was, it was a tragedy, Martha. It — Chris Stevens was one of our best. We lost three other brave Americans.
And I can make absolutely two commitments to you and all of the American people tonight: One, we will find and bring to justice the men who did this.

 

Sorry to digress, but the opportunity presented itself. We will discuss "I could care less" some other time.

 

John Boehner approved by Republican House, but not triumphantly

Inside the Conservative Rebellion Against John Boehner " House Speaker John Boehner barely held onto his job atop Congress’ lower chamber on Thursday. Just how close a call Boehner had is now becoming clear.
"Nine House conservatives voted for somebody other than Boehner, two abstained from voting and one voted “present.” That total of 12 Republicans who didn’t support Boehner was a stone’s throw from the required 17 to force a second ballot election – at which point several more Republican members were slated to back a competitor to Boehner’s, who would unite the party behind him or her."

NRO: An attempted rebellion against the House speaker fails, but leaves him weakened.
..." Franks couldn’t believe that a small bloc of conservative House Republicans would haphazardly plot against the speaker, especially so close to the roll call. Franks ended the conversation and found a seat. Several other members who were approached, he says, did the same. “I’m one of the most conservative guys here and I find out about this thing 15 minutes before the vote?” Franks asks, in an interview at the Capitol. “To me, it was a ridiculous miscalculation by a sincere but inept group.”"

Taegan D. Goddard's Political Wire; The GOP's Geographical Divide  " ..."there is a regional division in the party between the deep South, which contains many of the diehard House Republicans, and the Republicans from the Northeast, industrial Midwest, and the Far West. In the House vote on the fiscal cliff, Republican House members from the deep South opposed it by 83 to 10, while Republicans from the Northeast favored it by 24 to one, and those from the Far West by 17 to eight.' "

Neal Boortz's speech: If I Were The Speaker Of The House  "The way things stand now the next Speaker is only going to serve two years.  That would be because when the next Congress convenes in 2015 the Speaker of the House is going to be (gaaackkkk) Nancy Pelosi.  The entitlement electorate is expanding and Democrats are poised to take even more power.
"OK … so let’s imagine that I had been the speaker for the last week while this absurdity over the so-called fiscal cliff was playing out.  If it had been in my power to prevent it, there would have been NO tax increase.  Instead, I would have released the following statement:"....
His dissertation is lengthy, but concludes with these words that I wanted you to see:

We’re not going to follow a president focused on revenge.  We are not going to get out of the way of a Democrat party dedicated to expanding government dependency.  We’re going to lead.  We’ll need your help.  Let’s get to work.

 Rick Moran at American Thinker agrees Boehner is weakened