News Commentary

4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

"Civil libertarians rightly point to Obama’s reversals on expanding warrantless surveillance; the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects; military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay; prosecuting whistleblowers; and embracing an expensive definition of the war on terrorism’s executive powers. But there’s little evidence that Obama will change course. The evidence is staring everyone in the face. Obama has elevated a practice of stealthy robotic warfare to the tactic of choice for U.S. security priorities, and built around it a system that operates it practically on bureaucratic inertia." Continue reading →

Continue Reading4 More Drones! Robot Attacks Are on Deck for Obama’s Next Term

Obama Won. Now What Will You Do?

"Washington is headed for gridlock. This is good. This is not a dysfunctional government. A dysfunctional government passes lots of laws. The laws are almost always bad laws. Then the federal bureaucracy interprets and implements these laws in the Federal Register. What little that might have been good gets bad. A gridlocked government is the best we can hope for. My suggestion: start making major changes in your life’s plan. Make them in terms of reality: the unfunded present value of future federal liabilities: $222 trillion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Won. Now What Will You Do?

Gary North: Boehner Has Obama by the Boondoggles.

"I am hoping that the House will do nothing. I think that is the best we can hope for, given the fact that what Obama wants is a tax increase on the rich in order to save the Pentagon's budget. I would rather see the Pentagon have its budget cut than to see taxes, meaning progressive taxes, meaning graduated taxes, imposed on the rich . . . or anyone else. I would rather live with Bill Clinton's taxes than Obama's. Then, in 2016, Republicans can blame both of them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGary North: Boehner Has Obama by the Boondoggles.

California’s Economic Suicide and other News from Yesterday’s Ballot Measures

"Yesterday, the looters and moochers of the Golden State voted for Prop 30, a measure to significantly boost both the state sales tax and also hike income tax rates on investors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. I’m generally reluctant to make predictions, but I feel safe in stating that this measure is going to accelerate California’s economic decline. Some successful taxpayers are going to tunnel under the proverbial Berlin Wall and escape to states with better (or less worse) fiscal policy. And that will mean fewer jobs and lower wages than otherwise would be the case." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia’s Economic Suicide and other News from Yesterday’s Ballot Measures

Crony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

"Ultimately the biggest winners may be those who finance municipal and state debt. Owing his election to the fiscal failures of New York, Illinois and California, Obama could have to use his executive power to forestall looming bankruptcies at the local and even state level. Ironically the biggest winner here in the crony capitalist sweepstakes will be firms like Goldman Sachs, who turned so vehemently against Obama, but have historically made much of their money on financing government operations. Some people never seem to lose no matter what the result of the election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCrony Capitalists: The Biggest Winners From President Obama’s Re-Election

Paul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again

"Washington is controlled by powerful interest groups, not by elections. What the two parties fight over is not alternative political visions and different legislative agendas, but which party gets to be the whore for Wall Street, the military-security complex, Israel Lobby, agribusiness, and energy, mining, and timber interests. Being the whore is important, because whores are rewarded for the services that they render. To win the White House or a presidential appointment is a career-making event as it makes a person sought after by rich and powerful interest groups. What is curious is that voters don’t understand how politics really works." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: The Special Interests Won Again

Marijuana Prohibition Going Up in Smoke? High Hopes for a Drug War Peace Dividend

"As I have written before, drug prohibition is (literally) 'a textbook example of a policy with negative unintended consequences' most visible in the extensive criminal underground and widespread violence associated with prohibition. What can we expect from legalization, and what could we expect from further liberalization of drug laws? 1. Less Crime. 2. Lower Demand for Hard Drugs Like Crack and Crystal Meth. 3. A 'Peace Dividend' From Scaling Back the Drug War. Yesterday’s results are historic because the results in Colorado and Washington show that ending prohibition can win at the ballot box." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarijuana Prohibition Going Up in Smoke? High Hopes for a Drug War Peace Dividend

Preparing for the upcoming federal confrontation on legalized marijuana

"What seems to be pretty much a given is that the DEA will not go after consumers. They simply don’t have the staff to do it. 99% of possession arrests are by state and local police — if they’re not doing it under the new law, then the feds can’t do much about it. So, as with medical marijuana, they’ll go after the big suppliers. That’s almost impossible to defend against — the government’s ability to seize property and the visibility of large suppliers makes it easy picking. So the smart thing would be to push for a lot of small suppliers — make it hard for the DEA to go after them and less of a loss if they do." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPreparing for the upcoming federal confrontation on legalized marijuana

Four More Years of Uncertainty

"The 2012 elections mercifully are over, but we Americans find ourselves right back where we were. America remains a bitterly divided nation with roughly equal numbers on both sides. President Obama, narrowly re-elected, can hardly claim a mandate based on the popular vote. The U.S. Senate remains in the hands of partisan Democrats led by the charlatan Harry Reid. And the House of Representatives is still in conservative Republican control. I think the election results demonstrate that American voters, whether they collectively realize it or not, have guaranteed a continuation of the national mood of entrenched political animosity." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFour More Years of Uncertainty

The Winner of the Election: George W. Bush

"Both Obama and Romney have adopted the worst elements of the Bush agenda: perpetual and preventative wars, punitive trade sanctions, violations of traditional civil liberties, warrantless surveillance, extrajudicial detentions, regressive credit expansion, the revolving door between the White House and Wall Street, increases in domestic spending in the name of free enterprise, cronyism and national regimentation in the name of social welfare, regulatory expansion, deficit-based anti-recession measures, bailouts of banks and other major corporations, and colluding with special interests over major decisions behind closed doors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Winner of the Election: George W. Bush