Venezuela: the laboratory of socialism

The Venezuelan Crisis is Due to Economic Ignorance  . . . "As awful as the Venezuelan crisis is, it is not surprising. Indeed, the pattern we see there is a predictable outcome of “populist” policies that ignore the basic laws of economics. The distinguished Austrian school economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) explained decades ago that government intervention into the economy only causes problems, inviting further rounds of destructive intervention. Ultimately, Mises argued, the people must decide if they want to live under the institutions of a market economy or of outright socialism. There is no stable “third way” between capitalism and socialism because interventionism creates unintended consequences that no one likes.

"Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez described himself as a Trotskyist, and while in power he nationalized major companies in key industries and engaged in large-scale wealth redistribution. To “protect” the people from the greed of the capitalists, Chavez’s government imposed price controls on private merchants.

"For a while these policies seemed to work, and Chavez was a hero to many on the left. For example, after his death in early 2013, Salon.com ran an article by David Sirota entitled “Hugo Chavez’s Economic Miracle.” Sirota claimed that “Chavez became the bugaboo of American politics because his full-throated advocacy of socialism and redistributionism… represented a fundamental critique of neoliberal economics.” Sirota also wrote that “Chavez racked up an economic record that a legacy-obsessed American president could only dream of achieving.' ” . . .

Robert P. Murphy is a research fellow with Independent Institute and research assistant professor with the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University. He is the author of Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action. He will be speaking at SMU in Dallas on May 9 for “Advancing Liberty & Prosperity in a Divided America.”

Healthcare issues: the left has a smaller minority but a bigger megaphone

"And the great enemy of abundance is the bias against profit. There is something deeply rooted in us that instinctively thinks we are being abused if someone else makes a profit on a deal. That is a dumb and primitive way of thinking — our world is full of wonders because it is profitable to invent them, build them, and sell them — but the angel is forever handcuffed to the ape." National Review

Hopefully these will make a better case for ObamaCare repeal than Reince Priebus did for me to Chris Wallace  on Fox News Sunday   


Fact Check: It's a Lie That the GOP Healthcare Bill Abandons People With Pre-Existing Conditions
"As we described yesterday, there are some concerning policy elements of the House-passed American Health Care Act, which the Senate would be wise to explore and rectify over the coming weeks. The bill -- and that's all it is at this point: a work in progress -- repeals and alters significant portions of the Democratic Party's failing experiment in "affordability."  But based on rhetoric from elected Democrats and the Left generally, one might assume that Obamacare was called the "Pre-existing Conditions Coverage Act" (side-stepping the whole "choice and affordability" fairy tale they peddled), and that the Republican bill obliterates those protections. The proposed law would be a "death warrant" for sick women and children, they shriek, casting Obamacare opponents as the moral equivalent of accessories to murder. This is demagogic, hyperbolic, inaccurate nonsense." . . .

Obamacare Architect Blames Trump For Law's Failures  "Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber, who once said the “stupidity of the American voter” helped Congress pass the Affordable Care Act, tried to place the blame for the Affordable Care Act’s failures on President Trump Sunday." . . .

Obamacare Architect Gets Called Out for Blaming Law’s Failures on Trump

This next troubles me, not because I disagree with it, but because recalling how my hypochondriac mother impoverished my dad to the point where he could not take care of his own health, even pulling his own decayed teeth because he couldn't afford care. Yet government is inept at handling nearly everything plus their control over my healthcare gives people like Elizabeth Warren, Harry Reid, Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi* control over me and the way I live my life. Perhaps single payer works elsewhere, but I do not trust the character of politicians in this nation managing our lives who are the choice of people that riot in the streets to block dissenting opinions. TD

(*How coincidental; they are all leftist Democrats.)

The ‘Right’ to Health Care  . . . Declaring a right in a scarce good is meaningless. It is a rhetorical gesture without any application to the events and conundrums of the real world. If the Dalai Lama were to lead 10,000 bodhisattvas in meditation, and the subject of that meditation was the human right to health care, it would do less good for the cause of actually providing people with health care than the lowliest temp at Merck does before his second cup of coffee on any given Tuesday morning."  . . . More

Demagoguery: Liberals shamelessly exploit rape victims to attack House health care bill   "The latest version of this dishonest meme is the widespread insistence that the American Health Care Act (AHCA) “makes rape a preexisting condition.”

"The logic behind this claim is tortured." . . .

Obama's syrupy last-ditch bid to save his legacy  . . . "He's even attempted to call Obamacare opponents just personally opposed tohim, not his much-loathed health care program itself (code: racists), as he did last year:

"So why is there still such a fuss?" Obama said. "Well, part of the problem is the fact that a Democratic president named Barack Obama passed the law."

Shame on this man and his sycophants.

Krauthammer: We'll Be In a Single-Payer System In Less Than Seven Years

Townhall

"Republican lawmakers spent the last seven years vowing to repeal and replace Obamacare, and while the House took a first step toward that end Thursday in the narrow passage of the American Health Care Act, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made an ominous prediction about where health care in this country is heading.

“ 'Historically speaking we are at the midpoint and we had seven years of Obamacare, changing expectations. I would predict that in less than seven years, we will be in a single-payer system,” he told Fox News host Chris Wallace.

"This, he said, is the “great irony”—that despite the electoral losses Democrats faced because of the Affordable Care Act and even though the law has largely failed in practice, Obamacare will still win in the end.

“ 'Obamacare failed at every level politically. … As you say, they lost seats in the House, Senate, governorships. Largely because of Obamacare. It failed on the ground, as was pointed out earlier. The insurers are in a dead spiral. The Obamacare exchanges are collapsing. You've had these exchanges … completely disintegrating. But the irony is in the end, I think Obamacare wins the day because it changed expectations,” he said. “Look at the terms of the debate. Republicans are not arguing the free market anymore. They have sort of accepted the fact that the electorate sees healthcare as not just any commodity. It's not like purchasing a steak or a car. It is something people now have a sense that government ought to guarantee.' " . . .

Colbert, the darling of a Hollywood that trashes half of America

Comically Incorrect   Cartoon by A.F. Branco 

"Stephen Colbert drags us through the gutter to demonstrate his liberal bias and hatred toward President Trump." 

businessinsider.com

Clinton campaign tell-all may become TV series

See also the NY Times:

NY Post  "The tell-all book detailing the unraveling of Hillary Clinton’s campaign might land up on the small screen.

Modal Trigger“Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” the best-selling book written by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, has been optioned by TriStar Television and Davis Entertainment as a limited television series, according to the New York Times.

"The book, which chronicles the 2016 campaign’s alleged infighting and dysfunction, quickly climbed to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

"No writers have signed on to the project, and there is not a network attached yet.

"The news of a limited series may not be welcomed by Clinton’s staff, who have pushed back against the book on social media.

“ 'I don’t recognize the campaign depicted in Shattered. It was tough but we stuck together & all our proud of how hard our candidate fought,” Clinton’s former communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, wrote on Twitter."

IMDb states this:  "Just six months since the end of one of the most topsy-turvy presidential races in American history, the story of Hillary Clinton’s stunning defeat could be making its way to the small screen. “Shattered,” the best-selling book about Clinton’s failed campaign written by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, has been optioned for a limited series by TriStar Television, a division of Sony Pictures Television, and Davis Entertainment, TheWrap has learned, The project has not been attached to a network yet. " . . .
More on this at The Wrap.

Judge Jeanine called Clinton a “loser” and told her to go back into hiding.

In a nice way, I'm sure.

Hillary: The Girl Can’t Take It

" . . . Her overweening ambition has always taken precedence over the nation’s interests and the Democrats never criticized her for any of her misconduct. It is only now, when she threatens the party’s interests, that all but the deluded fantasists are raising a stink and telling her to “just go home.' ”

 

Clarice Feldman  "The Hillary Clinton whinefest continues. I had hoped that like the falling out of favor Kardashians and Caitlyn (aka Bruce) Jenner, she’d just start fading out of an audience, but she feels compelled to keep complaining about all those who cost her the election. This week she blamed James Comey and “Russian” hackers for her loss.

"There are two parts to the Russian collusion claim by the Hillaryites. They contend, first, that there was some still unspecified evidence to support a Russian preference for Trump. Then they claim that it was Russians who hacked her email accounts. This week both of those claims proved to be without substance.

"In Congressional testimony, the only basis for the first assumption was the purely factually unsupported, speculative belief by FBI director Comey that Russia preferred Trump. The only basis for the second was that the FBI was examining contacts between Trump and the Russians -- a suggestion Comey swatted off. " . . .

Don't ask me; I don't know

American Thinker

Political Correctness Taliban Claims Another Scalp as Trump Army Secretary Nominee Withdraws

Also: The Hill is reporting “Trump Army secretary nominee withdraws amid fierce opposition”:

Downtrend  "The fanatical left can now add another scalp to their trophy case. The blood was still dripping from the pelt of Army Secretary nominee Mark Green who was forced to withdraw from consideration over allegedly mean things that he said about transgender folks.

"Green had the temerity to blaspheme the left’s unchallengeable dogma over throwing women’s restrooms open to weirdos, transvestites and possible sexual predators looking for child victims. It was a huge boost to the zealots who have fully embraced the culture wars as a means to intensify their anger over losing an election.

"A number of House Democrats had sent a letter calling for the Senate to reject Green and once the man who according to his influence may be the real POTUS – John McCain – gave Green a thumbs down it was all over but the formalities." . . .

52 Congressman to Trump: Recognize Jerusalem in Israel

Middle East Forum  "Over 50 U.S. Congressman have sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling on the Trump administration to reverse a longstanding policy that prohibits Americans born in Jerusalem from listing Israel as their birthplace on official American documents.

"The letter called on President Trump to reverse the policy followed by his predecessors, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who claimed that recognizing Jerusalem as part of Israel interferes with Arab­Israeli diplomacy.

" 'We write to urge you to revise the State Department's policy regarding the birthplace designation on passports and consular reports of birth abroad for American citizens born in Jerusalem," the 52 lawmakers wrote. " . . .

What You Need to Know About Climate, In One Chart

"As the chart reflects, we are currently living in a relatively cool period. Global temperatures change over time, and while there are various theories, no one really knows why. If the alarmists were real scientists they would go back to the drawing board."

Power Line  "From Andy May at Watts Up With That, a chart that contains an enormous amount of information relevant to the climate debate. It shows global temperature as inferred from proxies (tree rings and the like), carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, and temperatures as predicted by the alarmists’ models for the Holocene epoch, the time since the end of the last Ice Age.

May comments:

In the figure below (source Javier, here) proxy global average temperatures for the whole Holocene (last 11,500 years) are shown in black. Computer model temperatures calculated by Liu, et al. (2014) are shown in green, carbon dioxide and methane concentrations from ice cores are also shown. For the Neoglacial Period, temperatures go down, but the computer model temperatures go up, so does the carbon dioxide level. Quite obviously, for the Holocene, neither CO2 nor the computer models are predictive of temperature.

 

"As the chart reflects, we are currently living in a relatively cool period. Global temperatures change over time, and while there are various theories, no one really knows why. If the alarmists were real scientists they would go back to the drawing board.".

Hillary Clinton, Sorest Loser in History

"Notwithstanding her rhetoric and blame shifting, Clinton did not lose because of outside influences; she lost because she was a horrible candidate with an unpleasant personality. She does not exude warmth or empathy like her husband, in fact, she has a reputation for being the “Queen of Mean.” For example, numerous security officers who served in her protection detail in both Arkansas and the White House claim she is a nasty person with a horrible temper. This anger and selfishness was also apparent on the 2016 campaign trail."

Townhall

. . . "This week, in an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Clinton blamed the loss on “the combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks.” 

"Obviously, Hillary Clinton prefers fantasy to the harsh political reality of her disastrous campaign. She said, "I was on the way to winning” until these supposedly disastrous circumstances united to derail her candidacy. It is quite convenient for Hillary to blame everyone else but herself. 

"Hillary claimed that Comey’s letter and WikiLeaks disclosures were critical factors that “raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off," For good measure, she also blamed misogyny, using the sexism card once again. 

"Of course, this is pure nonsense, a web of fantasy woven by a sore loser. The day after the interview, President Trump tweeted “FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!” Comey could have recommended an indictment of Clinton, but he refused to pursue charges, even though he castigated her for “extremely careless” handling of top secret email communications." . . . 

The media, talk shows and the anti-Trump fad.

Weekly Standard: How Trump-hatred warps the judiciary.  "Something ugly is happening to the First Amendment. It is being contorted to enable judges to protest Donald Trump's presidency. The perennial impulse of judges to manipulate the law to achieve morally and politically desirable ends has only been exacerbated by the felt necessity to "resist" Trump. The result: Legal tests concerning the freedoms of speech and religion that in some cases were already highly dubious are being further deformed and twisted.
. . . 
"Those who try to police the relentlessly transformational projects of constitutional progressives had much to dread from the Obama administration, an inveterate ally of the legal left that did what it could to graft the aspirations of progressives onto the Constitution. But Trump's presidency may be even worse, because too many judges now feel called to "resist" Trump and all his works—no matter the cost to the law's authority and to the integrity of the judicial role." . . .

Variety: FCC to Investigate Stephen Colbert Over Controversial Donald Trump Joke  To call it all "homophobic" I find ridiculous and just the sort of claim used to shut down any dialogue on the subject as the left does; conservatives should be better. I prefer societal pressure against this silly man and his bullying ways against conservatives as he did against President Bush. Like that's going to happen. TD

William Sullivan: FCC: Hands off Stephen Colbert Quoting the Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [Emphasis added]

. . . "It is important that we conservatives be consistent.  How can we tell our children about the virtues of unabridged freedom of speech, only to selectively apply it in principle?  How can any conservative argue against a revival of the “Fairness Doctrine,” which the Democrat left has pursued in recent years to define what is “fair” coverage by media outlets, without first recognizing and acknowledging unequivocally that the federal government has no such right?" . . .

Look at Berkeley and realize we must be better than that. TD

Brian C. Joondeph: Jimmy Kimmel Left Out Some Important Bits About Obamacare  . . . "History aside, and politics aside, one can’t help but feel empathy for Kimmel and his family. But unfortunately, politics wasn’t aside in his monologue. As Rahm Emanuel once said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” And Kimmel did not.

"In the second part of his monologue he pivoted from family health crisis to typical late night comedy show shtick, bashing Donald Trump, Republicans, conservatives and all things not liberal. Kimmel made a pitch for preexisting condition coverage under Obamacare and for National Institutes of Health funding which Trump threatened to cut in his proposed budget." . . .