Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

QUICK TAKES

  -  David Pryce-Jones - It Would Be Foolish for Britain to Remain in the EU 

  -  David French - It is Only Going to Get Worse -- Jonathan Haidt on the Crisis on Campus.  -  On Leftist domination in the university and plus the effects of raising "fragile kids".  Valuable also for introducing me to Heterodox Academy website.  

  -  Luca Volontè  - European Resistance to Cultural Suicide

                                - Europe, Multiculturalism, and Nihilism

AMERICA GOING DOWNHILL FOLLOWING FRANCE

Socialists choose illusion, but reality can be ignored only so long.  France is far along the illusory road, and the U.S. under Obama follows in pursuit.  Idiotic.

Dale Hurd reports:

  Text:

PARIS -- If Americans want a glimpse into their possible economic future, they should look to France where there's high unemployment, low growth, more taxes, and more people on welfare.

Some are calling America's stagnant economy the "new normal." Some say America is looking more and more like Europe.

France should be a warning to Americans who have just voted for four more years of big government spending. The French are experts at big government. They've been deficit spending for decades, and it's made the country poorer.

A Welfare Time Bomb

America's exploding welfare state and huge deficit is starting to look so European that after the recent "fiscal cliff" fiasco, the Economist magazine dressed up President Obama in a French marinière shirt and House Speaker John Boehner in lederhosen.

Now the White House has decided to hire a famous left-wing French economist, Esther Dufflo, to help formulate economic policy. While France does some things well, economics might not be on the list.

France's bloated welfare state has been dubbed a "time bomb." Big government has not only weakened the French economy, it has crippled the entrepreneurial spirit.

"The entrepreneurial young people, they're going to London; they're going to Asia; they're going to the United States because they want to achieve something that is not automatically taken away by a state that says, 'you have, therefore I take it,'" said Jacob Arfwedsons, a Paris-based free market economist at the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issue.

France's Millionaire Exodus

The wealthy are fleeing, too, because of high taxes. French actor Gerard Depardieu recently collected his Russian passport, offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia has a flat tax of only 13 percent.

France has one of the lowest numbers of millionaires per capita in Western Europe.

One clue as to why can be found in a newspaper headline over a photo of France's wealthiest man, Bernard Arnault, who threatened to leave France over high taxes.

It reads, "Beat it, rich jerk."

Some joke that France is the one country where communism succeeded. It hasn't had a balanced budget in 40 years. The government sector of the French economy is larger than the private sector.

Most French are dependent on the state not only for benefits but for jobs. Three out of four French young people say their dream is to get a government job someday.

"France is addicted to public spending like a drug," Florian Silnicki, with the Club of Entrepreneurs, told CBN News. "We turn to government spending as the solution to our problems. Businessmen are telling us, 'We can't take it anymore.'"

"The system we have is very generous. But it's also very expensive, and we simply cannot pay for it," Dr. Emmanuel Martin, a French economist with the Atlas Foundation, said. 

Welfare = Stingy Society

Martin said France demonstrates that when the welfare state starts caring for people, people stop caring for each other.

The level of charitable giving in France and other nations in Western Europe is much lower than in the United States.

Martin said the welfare state "kills the natural move toward solidarity among individuals. And no wonder we're not a very philanthropic country." He says welfare makes societies "mean."

Socialism allows politicians to essentially buy votes by offering benefits paid for with money they don't have; and they won't be around when the state finally goes broke.

"More and more companies are dying, so there's more and more destruction of jobs," Martin said.

Coming Reality Check

IREF's Arfwedson said France has all but guaranteed that its future will be poorer.

"Oh, and that day is coming very soon, very soon," he warned. "There is growing awareness that we're heading right into the wall, which is called 'reality.'"

An excellent question is why American leaders would want to emulate France, or Europe, for that matter. 
 
Polls show most Democrats now have a favorable view of socialism, and it's very popular among America's college-age young people.

Maybe they should have a talk with a French economist.

**Follow Dale on Twitter @HurdontheWeb and "like" him at Facebook.com/DaleHurdNews.

THE POPULACE HAS CHOSEN ECONOMIC SUICIDE

It amazes me that "smart people" choose catastrophy.  Mark Steyn notes:  (my bolding)

[...]  If you add up the total debt — state, local, the works — every man, woman, and child in this country owes 200 grand (which is rather more than the average Greek does) Every American family owes about three-quarters of a million bucks, or about the budget deficit of Liechtenstein, which has the highest GDP per capita in the world. . . .

In the course of his first term, Obama increased the federal debt by just shy of $6 trillion and in return grew the economy by $905 billion. So, as Lance Roberts at Street Talk Live pointed out, in order to generate every dollar of economic growth the United States had to borrow about five dollars and 60 cents. There’s no one out there on the planet — whether it’s “the rich” or the Chinese — who can afford to carry on bankrolling that rate of return. . . According to one CBO analysis, U.S.-government spending is sustainable as long as the rest of the world is prepared to sink 19 percent of its GDP into U.S. Treasury debt. We already know the answer to that: In order to avoid the public humiliation of a failed bond auction, the U.S. Treasury sells 70 percent of the debt it issues to the Federal Reserve — which is to say the left hand of the U.S. government is borrowing money from the right hand of the U.S. government. It’s government as a Nigerian e-mail scam, with Ben Bernanke playing the role of the dictator’s widow with $4 trillion under her bed that she’s willing to wire to Timmy Geithner as soon as he sends her his bank-account details.

If that’s all a bit too technical, here’s the gist: There’s nothing holding the joint up. . . .

Americans as a whole have joined the rest of the Western world in voting themselves a lifestyle they are not willing to earn. The longer any course correction is postponed the more convulsive it will be. Alas, on Tuesday, the electorate opted to defer it for another four years. I doubt they’ll get that long.

43 SENATORS SIGN A LETTER OPPOSING THE REID BILL

They tell the Senate Leader:  

The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election

More from the letter:  

We are writing to let you know that we will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States.  In addition to this unprecedented increase in borrowing authority, your amendment completely fails to address our current fiscal imbalance and lacks any serious effort to ensure that any subsequent spending cuts are enacted.

The plan you have proposed would not alter the spending trajectory that is putting our economy and national security at risk.  In return for an unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, your amendment reduces spending by less than $1 trillion over the next decade.  Setting aside the $200 billion shortfall between the CBO scored savings and the $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, identified by the Congressional Budget Office, most of the proposal’s alleged savings are based on a false claim of credit for reductions in war-related spending that were already scheduled to occur.  This amendment proposes no change to our military posture and, for that reason, these savings are the sort of widely ridiculed accounting gimmick that breeds cynicism about our ability to tackle our fiscal challenges.  The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election.  It is by constantly putting off these tough decisions that we have found ourselves with a national debt nearly equal to the size of our gross domestic product.  The time for action is now, we cannot wait until we accumulate another $2.4 trillion in debt.

For all of these reasons, we must oppose your unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment.  Given the nation’s enormous future spending challenges, it would be irresponsible to give the President this unprecedented additional borrowing authority without requiring the enactment of significant spending reductions and reforms.  We urge you to abandon this reckless proposal and instead pursue a more responsible course of action that would rein in spending, reassure the financial markets, and help promote private sector job growth.

(HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez)

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - HOW PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL BE REMEMBERED

Hanson writes:

Barack Obama will be remembered not so much for being the nation’s first African-American president, or even the man who ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden, or even for his Obamacare, but as the president who grew government the largest, ran up the largest deficits during any presidential tenure, and laid out most candidly and confidently the argument of why the United States is an intrinsically unfair society and how that must be remedied by government.  [my bolding]

Behind the current mess and shrill rhetoric in D.C. are these two larger competing visions—the belief that the Obama agenda is the road to serfdom for everyone, and the belief that it will result in a long-overdue equality of result.  [more...]

"COMPROMISE" WITHOUT "CHANGING COURSE" = CRASH!

Via Ed Morrissey:

IBD’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez puts the crises in spending, long-term debt, and leadership into single-frame perspective this morning:

Ed Morrissey writes:

Also, be sure to check out Ramirez’ terrific collection of his works: Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, which covers the entire breadth of Ramirez’ career, and it gives fascinating look at political history.  Read my review here, and watch my interviews with Ramirez here and here.  And don’t forget to check out the entire Investors.com site, which has now incorporated all of the former IBD Editorials, while individual investors still exist.

ED MORRISSEY - "SOAK THE RICH" LOSING POPULARITY

Morrissey analyzes Gallup’s latest poll on soak-the-rich tax policies and concludes:  (my bolding)

[...]  Americans know that job creation comes from private investors taking risks with their wealth in order to create even more wealth, and not from government confiscation of wealth to create new bureaucracies that create nothing but red tape.  We have spent the last two years watching what happens when government takes wealth out of the economy, and the results — chronically high unemployment, bad housing markets, and a falling dollar that brings high fuel and food prices — are no longer dim reminders of the 1970s, but our current environment.  [more . . .]

FISCAL CRAZINESS

From FRC:

Right now, the federal government is borrowing 42 cents on every dollar it spends--in part, because the Left insists on funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to abortion groups like Planned Parenthood. Decisions like that one have helped rack up more than $14 trillion in U.S. debt. That's a $45,500 "birth tax" to every child born in America this year!

Why is there even an argument about fiscal restraint?

QUICK TAKES

- Housing Crash Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable...   - e.g. Seattle "Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse. Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping."

- Chuck Colson - Time for a Tech Fast: Reject Infobesity

- Chuck Colson - "Skins" and Teen Exploitation

- Michael Horton provides some notes from a recent conference call with evangelical leaders in Egypt.

- Justin Taylor at "Between Two Worlds" posts:

- Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”

Denny Burk on Lady Gaga’s new song which has already been played over 9 million times, in its first four days, on her YouTube page:

“Born This Way” is making a theological point. It contends that sexual orientation is an innate and immutable quality of the human condition—a trait that we are “born” with. Whether you are gay, straight, or whatever, God made you this way, and for that reason you should embrace it. Or as Gaga herself puts it, “I’m beautiful in my way ’cause God makes no mistakes. I’m on the right track baby. I was born this way.”

The message of the song drinks deeply of the “is-ought” fallacy—the idea that we can determine what ought to be by observing what is. The song’s message also flies in the face of the Bible’s depiction of a fallen creation. It is true that God created human beings in His own image and that as a result every single human has intrinsic value and worth (Genesis 1:26-27). It is not true, however, that God endorses every thought and intention of the human heart. We live in a Genesis 3 world in which humanity and the cosmos are fallen and compromised by sin. That means that some of our desires are misdirected—even some of the ones that we are born with. That we desire sin from birth is not a cause for celebratory anthems but an indication of just how desperate the human condition really is (Psalm 51:5; 58:3; Jeremiah 17:9).

HOUSE GOP BUDGET PROPOSES DOING AWAY WITH LIBERAL GIVEAWAYS

From the Family Research Council:  (I say "hooray" to these proposed budget cuts and hope they pass.)  Update note: I need to clarify.  The post below refers to a budget to temporarily fund the federal government, commonly known as a "continuing resolution" (CR). 

If there's anyone who doesn't feel the love this Valentine's Day, it's the organizations on the Left. Late Friday, House leaders came back to the table with a second budget--and to the disappointment of most liberal groups, it hit the $100 billion bulls-eye. The casualties of these latest cuts happen to be some of the Democrats' biggest allies: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS and NPR), the Corporation for National Service (Americorps), Legal Services Corporation, Title X "Family Planning" programs (Planned Parenthood), and others. After some frank conversations, House leaders took the advice of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and FRC to hack away as much as possible in this first go-round of the continuing resolution (CR). For years, the liberal political establishment has treated the government like an ATM, withdrawing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for causes that Washington has no business funding. Most Americans have no idea that this symbiotic relationship between liberal politicians and organizations exists. Yet year after year, Democrats funnel our money to their friends, who in turn, help keep those leaders in power.

BEST DEFICIT CHART EVER

(Originally here via NRO)

MARTIN WEISS INTERVIEWS PETER SCHIFF

Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital is a familiar name to economy watchers.  As Martin Weiss says,

Not only was his massively best-selling book — Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Economic Collapse — dead right about the debt crisis and the Great Recession, but he has now taken this effort to the next level: A maverick campaign for Senate in the State of Connecticut.

I am not putting up this post because Schiff is running for the Senate, but because I think it useful to be familiar with his views on the economy.  Memorable lines:  

Schiff: Forget about “double dip.” I do not believe the recession ever ended. In fact, I think we are in the early stages of a depression. True, GDP grew in the last few quarters, but none of that growth was real. It simply resulted from spending more borrowed money, which we now have to repay. If you net the debt out of the growth, we didn’t really grow at all. We simply dug ourselves into a deeper hole. . .

 If policy makers don't wise up to counsels such as his, Schiff offers a warning (a real zinger to me):

I think many of our grandchildren will decide to leave [America].  They will go to other countries. And I’d much prefer not to force them to emigrate the way my grandparents had to, coming to America in search of freedom.

I don’t want our descendants to have to go to Asia to find freedom. I’d rather have freedom here. But if we make it so inhospitable, if we regulate them and tax away their freedoms, if we try to stick them with all the bills, they will leave us with the tab. We will have to suffer the consequences of our own profligacy.  [more . .]

CHUCK COLSON'S CHILLING DREAM (NIGHTMARE)

  Colson's dream deals with America's debts, Chinese action, and government martial law.  Colson contends "This country’s national debt is profoundly immoral. But the debt is also profoundly dangerous.

To explain that, let me paint a picture for you.

Patty and I love to watch the Fourth of July festivities from Washington on TV. But this year, as we listened to the glorious patriotic music and saw the marching bands and bombs bursting in air, my mind kept wandering to an imaginary, but very disturbing scene. There was the President, staring grimly and speaking into the camera.

“My fellow Americans,” he said, “as most of you know by now, President Hu of China announced that the Chinese government is selling U.S. treasuries. There was no warning. Markets around the world have tumbled. The DOW dropped 50 percent before the exchanges were closed. Banks across the country have frozen assets.”

Then, in my dream, the President continued: “The Fed will continue to put money in the market, but this is costly, the value of the dollar being half of what it was 48 hours ago.

“There are reports of rioting and looting across the country. But this is no time for such behavior. This crisis will be settled; central bank executives are

THE U.S. DEBT CLOCK

Depressing and mind-blowing.  Click here.

CANADA RECOVERS JOBS; THE U.S. STAGNATES IN THE CELLAR

Ed Morrissey over at HotAir posts a stunning contrast of two charts.  Here's the chart showing Canada's recovery:

Unfortunately, the U.S. chart (it's a non-recovery chart!) won't quite fit on my blog so I urge you to go to the HotAir post to see the chart for yourself and read the explanation. 

In short, why such a dramatic  difference?  The answer:

Instead of using a blizzard of government spending to correct a downturn in unemployment, Canada tightened its belt and rode it out.

Read the whole article...

ARTHUR LAFFER: THE ECONOMY WILL COLLAPSE NEXT YEAR WHEN THE BUSH TAX CUTS EXPIRE

Sobering.  But not rocket science.  Laffer's article appears in the Wall Street Journal.  Excerpt:

. . . Now, if people know tax rates will be higher next year than they are this year, what will those people do this year? They will shift production and income out of next year into this year to the extent possible. As a result, income this year has already been inflated above where it otherwise should be and next year, 2011, income will be lower than it otherwise should be.

Also, the prospect of rising prices, higher interest rates and more regulations next year will further entice demand and supply to be shifted from 2011 into 2010. In my view, this shift of income and demand is a major reason that the economy in 2010 has appeared as strong as it has. When we pass the tax boundary of Jan. 1, 2011, my best guess is that the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe "double dip" recession.   [more . . .]

Me:  When was the last sensible decision made by this administration?

CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN'S FIRST-RATE SPEECH ON AMERICA'S ECONOMIC CRISIS

Click here.  Ryan's speech beckons us to a new American Revolution.  Ryan has produced a taxonomy of what is dangerous about the Democratic takeover of government, health care, and private industry, but he doesn't leave it there.  He offers a road map towards what needs to be done.  Mark it on your "Favorite" list.  Refer to it often.  If we heed Ryan's warning and advice, we may yet see a burst of renewal and a turning from the current threatening clouds on the horizon.  The stakes are high.

(I hope Mark Steyn's Puddleglum view -- that America is now incapable (read: "too far gone") to muster the required strength for the "long march" to freedom - can be proven wrong.  Though I fear he may be right.)  Ryan's speech: [emphases mine]

BLOOMBERG POLL: AMERICANS DECIDEDLY GLOOMY ABOUT ECONOMY, IMAGE OF THE U.S., AND STRENGTH OF OUR NATION

Larry Doyle reports on a Bloomberg National Poll of 1002 people the following results: (The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%)

The Value of Your Investments
A lot better 6%
A little better 25%
Same 22%
A little worse 29%
A lot worse 17%
Not Sure 1%

The Overall U.S. Economy
A lot better 4%
A little better 25%
Same 13%
A little worse 23%
A lot worse 34%
Not Sure 1%

The Businesses in Your Community
A lot better 2%
A little better 14%
Same 28%
A little worse 33%
A lot worse 21%
Not Sure 2%

The Value of Homes in Your Community
A lot better 2
A little better 12
Same 28
A little worse 31
A lot worse 25
Same 2

The Image of U.S. in Other Countries
A lot better 11%
A little better 16%
Same 19%
A little worse 21%
A lot worse 30%
Not Sure 3%

The Strength of Our Nation
A lot better 7%
A little better 18%
Same 24%
A little worse 25%
A lot worse 24%
Not Sure 2%

ECONOMIST ARTHUR LAFFER PREDICTS AN ECONOMIC 'TRAIN WRECK' AHEAD

- Update 1/30/10 - Wintery Knight has produced a MUST READ post on Friday's 5.7% GDP growth announcement.  Don't be fooled.  Read WK's post to understand why the numbers need to be seen as disappointing.

- (Original post) - A friend called my attention to Donald Lambro's article: "Laffer: Obama's 'Train Wreck' Ahead."

The famed economist, whose supply-side, tax-cutting policies enacted by President Reagan in 1981 put the economy on a record-breaking, 25-year economic trajectory of growth and prosperity, is telling Americans not to be lulled by sporadic signs of growth this year, because the economy is headed for a sharper decline next year when tax rates are expected to jump sharply, sending the economy into a new tailspin.

“It will make the decline in U.S. output from 2010 to 2011 worse than the decline in output in 2008 and 2009 which will catastrophic,” Laffer said in an interview with HUMAN EVENTS.

THE PROLONGED RECESSION THE RESULT OF OBAMA'S FOOLISH ECONOMIC POLICIES

As Ed Morrissey says:

The economic policies of the Obama administration have lengthened the recession and delayed what would be the normal recovery process, mainly by signaling to investors and businesses that costs will go up in taxes and energy prices, as well as burdensome mandates on health insurance.  As a result, people are not investing their money into job-creating risk but are sheltering their cash instead.

Morrissey posts the following chart which shows employment figures by months after the start of recessions.  He credits the Minneapolis Federal Reserve and King Banaian for the chart.

The production numbers look similar:

OBAMA: THE STIMULUS IS WORKING [FILE UNDER BALD-FACED OBAMA LIES]

Update: Nouriel Roubini over at Forbes magazine offers an exceptionally gloomy outlook: "Brown Manure, Not Green Shoots.  He subheads his article, "The jobs situation is even worse than the headlines."

(Original post) - Ed Morrissey provides the details.  Click here.  The man in the White House doesn't lack chutzpah.

OBAMA STIMULUS: PREDICTIONS VS. REALITY

Click here for a short (under 1 minute, 35 second) video (from the Political Math blog) that helps visualize Obama's "horrifically, disastrously wrong" predictions  (HT: The Corner).  A short commentary accompanies the video:

. . . The president’s predictions have been shown to be completely off the mark… almost laughably so. And yet he acts as if he alone knows what would have happened if we hadn’t passed the stimulus because he keeps making statements like “we’ve saved 150,000 jobs“.

It is clear that, if he is referring to the chart we were presented with above, such a claim is absurd. . .

I am not a very anti-Obama person. Predicting the future is tricky business and I think his team should get some leeway on this.  However…

Their predictions were not just kinda wrong. They were horrifically, disasterously wrong. If President Obama is going to use statistics and charts to push nearly $800 billion in spending, I think we should be able to expect his numbers to at least kinda match the reality that comes out of his policies.

At the very least, I’d like to know how his team got those numbers. More importantly, I’d like to know how they have changed their method of prediction. President Obama is fond of saying that we tried tax cuts and they didn’t work, so we should try something else. In that same vein, his team tried predicting the effect of the stimulus and that didn’t work. So I would like to know if they are using the same failed methods they used before or if they are doing something different.

THE REASON FOR TEA PARTIES

REP. BARNEY FRANK - HOW TO LIE WITH A LACK OF CONSCIENCE AND A SURFEIT OF SANCTIMONY

This blog post is required viewing.  See what Barney Frank said (video) in 2005, and what he says now (video). 

Ed Morrissey:   Clueless?  A liar?  In this case, Frank qualifies as both.

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST DEBTOR NATIONS

  Click here.   I was really surprised!  I'll bet you'll be also.   

A useful measure of how a country's debt position is by comparing gross external debt to GDP, which offers a direct relation of a country's debt to the size of its economy. In this report, all countries are among the world's 50 largest economies, and are ranked by current external debt as a percentage of 2008 GDP.   [Click through for a slide show of debtor nations]

ECONOMIC SURVIVALISTS TAKE ROOT

USA Today carries an interesting story of a family changing their living habits in the face of economic realities.  The story notes that sales of vegetable seeds are up, as are canning and sewing products, and some people are relocating.

BANKRUPTCY OR GOVERNMENTAL CONTROL - WHICH IS PREFERABLE?

Richard Epstein, professor of law at the University of Chicago and NYU, argues that the responses of both Bush and Obama to the economic crisis reveal an astonishing ignorance of bankruptcy law.  Peter Robinson quotes Epstein, "When we attempt to bail out failing enterprises,

we take them away from bankruptcy judges, who are experts, and give them to a collection of congressional individuals who are charitably called clowns.  When you bring commercial decisions to Congress they become politicized, and politicized decisions become destructive decisions."  [my bolding]

 Click here for Robinson's interview with Epstein.

GEORGE F. WILL - "THE ILLEGAL STIMULUS: UNCONSTITUTIONAL POWERS GRANTED THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH BY CONGRESS

Click through for G.F. Will's article.  I hope this gets into the courts.  Our freedoms cannot survive when Congress abdicates its self-governing responsibilities in favor of creating a monster executive branch. 

EU PRESIDENCY: US ECONOMIC PLANS A "WAY TO HELL"

The Associated Press reports:

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, told the European Parliament that President Barack Obama's massive stimulus package and banking bailout "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."  (more . . .)

DAVID WILKERSON, "TEEN CHALLENGE" FOUNDER AND AUTHOR OF "THE CROSS AND THE SWITCHBLADE," PREDICTS IMMINENT CATASTROPHE

 - One can go straight to Rev. David Wilkerson's blog post here.

- The Drudge Report carries the headline Famed pastor predicts imminent catastrophe; 'Earth-shattering calamity about to happen'...   The linked news story reads:

A respected pastor, best-selling author and founder of a major ministry to teens predicts an imminent "an earth-shattering calamity" centered in New York City that will spread to major urban areas across the country and around the world – part of what he sees as a judgment from God.

David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book about his ministry to troubled New York street kids that was later made into a movie starring Pat Boone, tells readers of his blog this weekend that he is "compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message" about his prediction.

"An earth-shattering calamity is about to happen," he writes. "It is going to be so frightening, we are all going to tremble – even the godliest among us."

Wilkerson's vision is of fires raging through New York City.

WANT TO KNOW WHAT A TRILLION DOLLARS LOOKS LIKE?

Here's one visual.  (HT: Jonah Goldberg)

Update:  A reader, a physicist, adds more details.

LEGENDARY INVESTOR JIM ROGERS: "LET AIG GO BANKRUPT, NOT AMERICA"

From a CNBC interview:

"Suppose AIG goes bankrupt, it is better that AIG goes bankrupt and we have a horrible two or three years than that the whole US goes bankrupt," Rogers said. "AIG has trillions of dollars of obligations, let them fail, let the courts sort it out and start over. Otherwise we'll never start over." . .

Bailing out the banks is going to increase the debt spiral and finally cause the destruction of the world's biggest economy, Rogers said. . .

"The idea that you have too much debt, too much borrowing and too much consumption and you're going to solve that problem with more debt, more consumption and more borrowing? These people are nuts." . .

"Power is shifting now from the money shifters, the guys who trade paper and money, to people who produce real goods. What you should do is become a farmer, or start a farming network," Rogers said.

- Jim Cramer video: "It's amateur hour at our darkest moment." 

Drudge's Links at the Top Of His Page

Here are the captions:

'09 BUDGET SPENDS $11,833 FOR EVERY AMERICAN...
$25,573.48 PER TAXPAYER...
THE $1.75 TRILLION DEFICIT...
PDF FILE: 'A New Era of Responsibility'...
DICK MORRIS: IT'S OBAMA SPREADING PANIC...
US banks post first quarterly loss since 1990... Developing...
Record Government Note Auction; Unprecedented amount of debt... Developing...

And here is the chart Drudge put up:

Me: Crazy, crazy, unspeakably crazy.

Fox News Report from Sept. 28, 2008 - Timeline Shows Bush, McCain Warning Dems of Financial and Housing Crisis; Meltdown

This video shows that George Bush tried to warn Congress in 2002 that this economic crisis was coming, if something was not done. But congress refused to listen, along with Barney Franks. This video says it all .

Is Obama's Economic Fearmongering Justified?

I honestly don't know.  But one economics professor takes strong exception to Obama.  Bradley Schiller contends Obama's Rhetoric is the Real Catastrophy."  (HT: Drudge)

President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package. . .

This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. . .  [more . . .]

Huckabee: Stimulus is "Anti-Religious"

Andy Bar at Politico reports:

In an e-mail that was also posted on his blog ahead of the Senate’s passage, Huckabee wrote: “The dust is settling on the ‘bipartisan’ stimulus bill and one thing is clear: It is anti-religious.”

The former Republican presidential candidate pointed to a provision in both the House and Senate versions banning higher education funds in the bill from being used on a “school or department of divinity.”

“You would think the ACLU drafted this bill,” Huckabee said. “For all of the talk about bipartisanship, this Congress is blatantly liberal.”

“Emily’s List, radical environmental groups, etc. all have a seat at the decision making table in Washington these days,” he continued. “Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in charge and they are working with an equally ‘progressive’ President Obama (remember his voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy!).”  [more. . .]     (HT: Drudge)

SC Governor: "We're Moving Close to a Savior-Based Economy":

CNN Reports  (HT: Drudge):   (my emphases)

“A problem that was created by building up of too much debt will not be solved with yet more debt,” Gov. Mark Sanford said Sunday, making a reference to the federal deficit spending that will likely finance the federal stimulus package.

“We’re moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy,” Sanford also said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

The South Carolina Republican said such an economy is “what you see in Russia or Venezuela or Zimbabwe or places like that where it matters not how good your product is to the consumer but what your political connection is to those in power.”

“That is quite different than a market-based economy where some rise and some fall but there’s a consequence to making a stupid decision,” Sanford said after pointing to the powers granted to the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve to help deal with the current economic crisis.

Peter Schiff: Stimulus Bill Will Lead to "Unmitigated Disaster"

Peter Schiff is  the man who predicted the economic crisis we now find ourselves in.  Click here for video interview.  Schiff offers a really scary perspective.  Will Obama's policies prove as foolish and dangerous as Schiff predicts?  We will find out.  I plan to mark this video interview for future reference.   (HT:Allahpundit at HotAir) 

What's In the "Stimulus Bill"?

The Corner quotes Sen. Tom Coburn:

We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing on the principles that made this country great. There ought to be a review of every program in the Federal Government that is not effective, that is not efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and we ought to get rid of it right now. We ought to say, Gone, to be able to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have some impact.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next week we are going to hear from the Obama administration wanting another $500 billion. Outside of this, they are going to want another $500 billion to handle the banking system. Still not fixing the real disease—the pneumonia—we are going to treat the fever or treat the cough, but we are not going to treat the real disease. Until we treat the real disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than pure waste. It is morally reprehensible, because it steals the future of the next two generations.

Rush Limbaugh's Bi-Partisan Stimulus Proposal

Why not adopt it?  It's better by far (both economically and in terms of bi-partisanship) than the Democratic proposal.  Click here for Rush Limbaugh's Wall Street Journal article.

CNBC interviews Rush here. 

For other proposals and helpful analysis of what's going on, click here.

"BIG GOVERNMENT IS WHERE ONCE SUCCESSFUL NATIONS GO TO DIE." - MARK STEYN

From Mark Steyn:

If you're wondering where the "stimulus" will lead in the long run, consider this story from The Times of London:

PARTS of the United Kingdom have become so heavily dependent on government spending that the private sector is generating less than a third of the regional economy, a new analysis has found.

The study of “Soviet Britain” has found the government’s share of output and expenditure has now surged to more than 60% in some areas of England and over 70% elsewhere.

Across the UK as a whole, government spending now accounts for 49% of the economy. And look at these regional variations:

Southern England: a mere 36% of the economy is government spending;
Northeast England: 66.4%;
Wales: 71.6%;
Northern Ireland: 77.6%.

As The Times notes:

The state now looms far larger in many parts of Britain than it did in former Soviet satellite states such as Hungary and Slovakia as they emerged from communism in the 1990s, when state spending accounted for about 60% of their economies.

Big government is where once successful nations go to die.

Me: Sad, oh so sad...

SHOULD WE SPEAK OF "STIMULUS" OR THE "PELOSI-REID-OBAMA-DEBT PLAN"?

The Heritage Foundation does a bit of dissecting.  Some results:

- The “Stimulus” Bills Your Family – $825 Billion is equivalent to borrowing $10,520 from EVERY FAMILY IN AMERICA. This money has to be paid back.

Over $142 Billion in Federal education funds: Nearly double the total outlays for the Dept. of Education in 2007 – making good on Reid-Pelosi-Obama education promises to the NEA.

[Read more. . .]

Peter Schiff - "The U.S. Debt Bubble Will End Badly"

So says the man who called the subprime crisis well in advance.  See his current Wall Street Journal article here.

Shoring Up Conservative Intellectual Defenses

Update 1/14/09 - In following up yesterday's post and in response to requests for specific help in explaining the financial mess we are in, John Hood suggests:  " read, copy, and distribute University of Missouri Professor Lawrence White's briefing paper for the Cato Institute, published a couple of months ago. It's concise, straightforward, and persuasive. A key graf:

The actual causes of our financial troubles were unusual monetary policy moves and novel federal regulatory interventions. These poorly chosen policies distorted interest rates and asset prices, diverted loanable funds into the wrong investments, and twisted normally robust financial institutions into unsustainable positions.

- (Original post) -John Hood posted  important observations:

A likely feature of the political debate of the next few years will look something like this. Conservatives will make a specific argument about a specific public-policy dispute — say, NR's editorial today questioning the need and wisdom of appropriating the second half of the TARP funds — and liberals will then respond not with a meaningful rebuttal of the specific argument but instead with a general attack on conservative credibility. "Your free-market ideology led to the worst recession since the Great Depression," they will assert. "Why should we believe anything you say now?"

Getting ready for this tactic means mastering the details of the bipartisan economic policy mistakes that have led us to the present moment, including excessive money creation, coddling of Fannie and Freddie, whipsaw imposition of post-Enron accounting rules, and regulatory constraints on production and investment. But it also means shoring up the intellectual defense of our basic conservative principles. The process will need to include

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON ON THE DISMAL -- SHOULD I SAY DISASTROUS? -- STATE OF CALIFORNIA

Here is VDH's thumbnail sketch of the State of California:

I think the wretched state of California, now looking at a fiscal disaster of roughly a $20-30 billion annual shortfall, should be a wake-up call for the Obama administration. Whatever California is doing — please don't follow suit!

With proposed increases, we will have the highest sales taxes (ca. 9%) in the nation, the highest state income taxes (10+%), and probably the lowest thresholds to get into those top brackets — and yet only about 380,000 Californians pay 40% of the aggregate income tax revenue.

In exchange, our schools, roads, airports, hospitals, and police are, to use a euphemism, not competitive. The CSU campuses make up the largest university system in the world, with the largest unionized faculty, and yet nearly 50% of entering freshman must take mandatory remedial math and English courses. We don't utilize our ample energy, mineral, and timber resources, but

MICHELLE MALKIN - "ROAD TO GOP REDEMPTION: ROLL BACK THE BAILOUTS, DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND"

This is a terrific, terrific article.  Malkin draws on an array of commentary, all of which makes important reading and makes enormous sense.  One commentary she draws upon is that of the Acton Institute and Rev.  Robert A. Sirico.  I am grateful for the clarity these sources provide. 

On page two I reproduce the Sirico excerpt Malkin included in her post (but she has many other important excepts from others as well)!

HOW GOVERNMENT HELPED CREATE THE CREDIT CRASH

Ian Murray lists 12 articles that show how government is a major culprit. He says

The fact is that short-sighted government policies distorted the market in the first place. Bankers were certainly to blame for responding to these signals from government in the hope of a quick buck, but at its base, much of the problem was caused by government.

DEREGULATION IS THE WRONG SCAPEGOAT

Sebastian Mallaby explains why.

(HT: Rich Lowry at the Corner)

DEMOCRAT RESPONSIBILITY FOR DEBACLE AT FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC

I have noted before the Democrat responsibility for the debacle at Fannie May and Freddie Mac and the reluctance of the McCain/Palin ticket to get specific and go after the culprits. 

Now the NRCC has put up an ad that finally does the job.  Click here.  You gotta see this.  It names names of the guilty ones on the Democratic roster related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (HT: Stephen Spruiell at the Corner)

Note also the facts and figures assembled by Andy McCarthy:

Executive compensation:

Franklin Raines (Obama adviser and Fannie CEO 1999-2004):  $90 million

Jim Johnson (Obama adviser and Fannie CEO 1991-1998): $21 million in 1998 alone — which, as Byron has detailed, was initially concealed from the public) (I haven't been able to find, in a quick search, how many more millions he made from 1991-1997)

Jamie Gorelick (former Clinton administration Deputy AG & Fannie vice chair 1998-2003): $26 million.

Campaign Contributions

Barack Obama, though only in the Senate since 2004, took in $126,349 from Fannie & Freddie (second only to Sen. Chris Dodd, $165,400 — whose collections go back to 1989). 

Taxpayer Liability Increase

Potentially $5 trillion.

 

WHY McCAIN GOES EASY ON FANNIE AND THE CRA

James Pethokoukis writes convincingly here.  (HT: Michelle Malkin).  Pethokoukis writes:

Here is the big question of the moment that many GOPers are asking: Why is John McCain not tearing into Barack Obama and the Dems on the huge role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Community Reinvestment Act in the financial crisis on Wall Street? In fact, the biggest criticism by conservatives of Sarah Palin's debate performance last night was that she had the opportunity to talk about Fannie/Freddie and the CRA but instead criticized the role of "predatory lenders."

Keep reading for the answers  . . .